Bakugan Loud Brawlers
by Ninjamon1228
Summary: When a bunch of mysterious cards start falling from the sky, the lives of Lincoln, Lori, Dan, and so many more and changed forever. Watch as they brawl for the sake of not only victory, but the protection of two worlds that collide! Bakugan Brawl! Cover Art by Petrus-C-Visage
1. Prologue

_**BOOM BABY!  
**_

**_Its Bakugan time! Honestly, Bakugan was my absolute childhood. I collected them, I watched every new episode and rewatch it every time it was TV. I love this show so much and after introducing it to my friend Petrus-C-Visagie, we came up with the idea for this fic along with a recommendation from someone on this sight. I forgot your name, but thank you for the idea!_**

_**And Petrus is practically the co-writer for this as we've come up with a lot of stuff together and I can't tell you how excited I am for this!  
**_

_**So, without further ado, I hope you all enjoy!**_

* * *

It's not easy being the only boy in a house with 10 sisters. Not counting his dad, he's the only boy in the house. His sister, Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily, certainly made every day its own little adventure that he struggled to survive. But he was able to make it through each and every day somehow. Luckily, he's the 'Man with the Plan' so he was able to think of a way to get through it all.

Even with a linen closet for a room, he was really happy with his life and his family and wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

However, with today, the happy part of all that wasn't really prominent at the moment. Currently, Lincoln was sitting by himself as the kitchen table with his head down on the table and his arms under his chin. A sad expression was on the Loud boy's face as he let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong Lincoln?"

Lincoln's eyes widened a bit at the familiar voice. Looking at the entrance to the dining room from the kitchen, he saw his oldest sister Lori with a cup of yogurt in her hand. Knowing his sister, it was probably fat free. "Lori, what are you doing here?" Lincoln asked with a confused expression now on his face. "I thought you were at a golf meet or something."

Lori let out her own sigh as she walked next to Lincoln and sat in the chair closest to him. "It was literally canceled today. The coach's son got sick, so she had to stay home to take care of him." Lori explained before looking back to her little brother. "Now come on, why are you literally acting like such a sad sack?"

Lincoln frowned again as he reached into his pocket and showed off two pieces of paper to Lori. The eldest Loud sibling rose her eyebrow in response as she took the two pieces of paper and examined them. She saw that they were actually tickets for a movie. The new Ace Savvy movie in fact. "Sooooo, what are these all about?" Lori asked with confusion in her voice. She figured something like this would make her brother happy.

"There tickets for the Ace Savvy movie I preordered a month ago." Lincoln started explaining as he leaned back in his chair. "If I don't use them today, they're gonna expire. Me and Clyde were supposed to go, but he and his dads had to go out of town at the last minute."

"Ah, well that's literally a bummer." Lori said as she completely understood what Lincoln was going through. She's had plenty of cases of her friends ending up having to cancel friends at the last minute. "But what about your other friends? Dan?"

"Grounded." Lincoln said as he remembered Dan was grounded for not doing his homework…again.

"Runo?" Lori asked with a raised brow.

"Busy working at her parent's restaurant." Lincoln explained again.

"Shun?" Lori asked with a bit of disbelief that all of Lincoln's friends seemed to not be available.

"Heeee…doesn't like comic books so much." Lincoln slowly answered.

"Zach, Liam, Rusty, Stella?" Lori listed three friends at once.

"Sick, working at the farm, having a father-son day, once again not an Ace Savvy fan." Lincoln listed out a he sunk deeper in his chair.

"Wow…well that's literally unfortunate." Lori slowly said as she moved her eyes around the room. Having all your friends unavailable is just plain unlucky.

"Guess I wasted my money." Lincoln sighed as he finally got up from his chair and slumped down a bit as he started to walk out of the kitchen. "I'm just gonna lie down today. I'll see ya later Lori, sorry about your golf thing again."

Lori watched as her little brother started to leave the dining room. She honestly felt a little bad for him. She's overheard him talking to his friends about how psyched he was for the movie. She remembered making plans for events she's looked forward to doing with her friends or her dates with Bobby and of course every now and then having to cancel a few of those due to unforeseen events or potential groundings on either side. And so, making up her mind, she stood up and walked over to Lincoln.

"Hey, why don't I go with you." Lori offered with a smile.

Lincoln stopped as his eyes opened and widened in surprised. He turned around and looked at Lori with a raised brow. "Really?" Lincoln asked with a tone that showed he couldn't believe what his older sister was saying. "You actually wanna see an Ace Savvy movie with me?"

"Yes, can't a bit sister spend some time with her little brother." Lori asked in a rather sweet tone as she put both of her hands to her chest. Lincoln still wasn't convinced as he gave his oldest sister a dead panned look. Lori dropped her sweet expression and sighed as she ran a hand over her face. "Ok look, I know I can…_difficult _sometimes, but that doesn't mean I don't like you Lincoln. So, I really do wanna spend some time with you."

Lincoln kept an unsure look for a few seconds before giving his eldest sister a small smile and slowly started nodding. "Alright, I'm sorry Lori." Lincoln apologized as he completely turned and face his sister. "Alright, if you really wanna go then it might be fun. But no making fun of the movie alright?"

"I promise." Lori said with an eye roll. "Now come on, we don't wanna be late do we?"

"Alright!" Lincoln cheered with a pumped up first. He then took Lori's hand and started running out the door with her in tow. "Let's go!"

"Woah! Lincoln! Slow down!" Lori yelled as she struggled to keep herself from tripping due to the sudden burst of speed as well as the surprise from Lincoln dragging her. Though her parents were using the family van, Vanzilla, today the movie theater was only a 20-minute walk from their home, so it was to bad of a walk there. Little did these two know, this day was only gonna get more eventful. Not just for them…but the entire world and even more.

* * *

_**A FEW HOURS LATER**_

"WOOHOO!" Lincoln cheered with a hyped expression with both hands in the air. "That! Was! Awesome!"

"Well, someones happy." Lori commented as she left the theater right after Lincoln and walked right next to her little brother. "I'm guessing you had a fun time?"

"The best time!" Lincoln told his eldest sister with excitement leaking off him. "I mean remember that part where Ace Savvy tricked The Poker King into handing him the golden club."

"I'll admit, I had a better time then I thought I would." Lori admitted as she looked up a bit and remembered some of the parts of the movie she really liked. "Plus, the credit song was really good."

"Yeah, they got a good singer for it." Lincoln agreed as the two headed towards the exit of the theater. Lincoln then gained a soft smile as he spoke up in a quiet tone. "Hey, Lori, thanks for coming with me today. I had a lot of fun hanging out with you today."

"Yeah, I agree." Lori said as she put an arm around her brother and pulled him in a little closer to her. "We should do this again sometime. We hardly spend any time together. Though…I guess that's literally my fault for kinda pushing you away whenever you come to me. Sorry about that."

"Ah, don't sweat it Lori." Lincoln waved off as he and Lori exited the theater. "I should respect your privacy more and get you out of the crossfire of some of my plans."

"Yeeeeah, I didn't really appreciate being tied to a chair that one night." Lori stated with crossed arms causing Lincoln to flinch in response. She was of course referring to that night where Lori was left in charge of the house and her siblings pulled a mutiny on her and ended up tying her to chair and locking her in her room.

"Hehe…sorry about that." Lincoln apologized with a nervous tone as she scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I'll admit, I can be a bit bossy. It just takes that kinda of work to keep you all in line." Lori explained as she did what she had to keep her 10 younger siblings in check. "But…maybe it wouldn't hurt to ease up a teensy tiny bit."

"Wait…really?" Lincoln asked with a slightly surprised tone. Lori then gave her little brother a small smile and a nod. Lincoln gave a bit of a toothy grin in response. "Thanks Lori, but if you need to bring the hammer down and need a little help, you can count on me."

"Thanks little bro." Lori said in a grateful tone as she ruffled Lincoln's snow white hair for a second. Just then the two looked around and saw they were at Royal Woods park. "Woah, didn't realized we literally walked so far."

"Guess we kinda got wrapped up in our conversation." Lincoln said with a chuckle with eventually spread to Lori. But as the two siblings were busy laughing, they failed to notice the sky started to illuminate with a mysterious glow.

As the two were laughing, Lori suddenly stopped as she felt something in her hair. "Something wrong Lori?" Lincoln asked as he noticed Lori freezing.

"Something landed in my hair." Lori squeaked out as she put on a slightly disgusted expression. She then slowly reached a hand to her head. "Please don't be bird poop, please don't be bird poop, please don't be…what the?" Lori touched the thing that landed on her head and felt that it was something solid and flat.

Grabbing it, Lincoln and Lori were both surprised to see that a card had landed on top of Lori's head. "Ok…that's weird." Lincoln commented as both he and Lori looked at the card. It was unlike any card either of them had seen. One side was black with a gray circle in the middle with gray lines coming out of the middle and spreading over the card. The other side of the card was a circle of symbols with the top being red, the top right being brown, the bottom right being yellow, the very bottom being purple, the bottom left being blue, and the top right being green.

"I've never seen a card like this before." Lori said as she looked over the card. It seemed…weird. Like she could feel some sort of energy radiating off it or something.

"Yeah me neither. Definitely never saw Ace Savvy use something like this before." Lincoln said as he looked over the card a bit more. "Maybe someone lost it and it blew in your hair."

"Yeah maybe." Lori agreed. That seemed like a reasonable thing to happen. It was a bit windy today.

However, what happened next disproved that. Lincoln ended up looking at the corner of his eye…and saw another card. "What the?" Lincoln quietly said as he bent down and pick up the card. Turning it around, Lincoln saw it was the exact same kind of card that landed in Lori's hair. "Ok, that's a bit freaky."

"Um…Lincoln…" Lincoln heard his sister speak in a trembling voice. Looking back, the Loud boy saw Lori looking up at the sky and pointing towards it. "Look."

Lincoln rose a brow at first and looked towards the sky…and his draw dropped at what he saw. The sky was glowing with a mysterious light and aura that seemed impossible to explain. But that wasn't even the weirdest part. The truly freaky thing that was happening was that cards were falling from the sky. The exact same cards that were in Lincoln and Lori's hands.

"What the heck is going on?!" Lincoln yelled as they watched the cards fall down to earth from the sky. Just then the two cards Lincoln and Lori had started to glow, freaking out the two siblings a bit. Lori's card glowed green with Lincoln's glowing purple.

Both of them held onto their respective card tightly as they watched something spherical emerge from the card. Suddenly, ball-like object appeared from the two cards. Lori's card ended up creating a green sphere and Lincoln's card created a black sphere with purple marks over it.

Both spheres' fell onto the ground with both siblings watching as they rolled towards their respective feet. "What…are these things?" Lori asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know." Lincoln answered as he slowly reached to pick it up. Once he picked the ball up, he examined it a bit and hummed. "It looks like…some kind of toy." Right as Lincoln said that, suddenly the ball opened up and surprising both siblings. Opened up, the sphere resembled some sort of creature with big hands and claws. "Freaky…"

"Let me check mine." Lori said as she bent down to pick up the green sphere. Bringing it up to her face, Lori watched it open up and resembled some sort of bird-like creature. "Ok, this is literally the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"Come on, let's take these and head home." Lincoln suggested as he stuffed the card and ball inside his pocket. These seem to be falling all over town, lets call up everyone and see whats going on."

"Right!" Lori agreed as they both quickly started to run home as the cards continued to fall from the sky.

* * *

Once they got home, Lincoln and Lori quickly entered the formers room. Lincoln then quickly opened up his laptop as both he and Lori once again took out their cards and the ball that came out of their respective cards.

Lincoln quickly logged into his laptop as he quickly opened up a video chat room and quickly called all of his friends. "Come on, come on, pick up guys."

Both Lincoln and Lori watched in anticipation as the computer beeped as it tried to call everyone. And then…

"Dude are you seeing what I am right now?!" The first person to answer was a boy a year older than Lincoln. He had wild brown hair and red eyes and wore a yellow shirt with a red vest with black pockets. This was Dan Kuso. "So my mom was making me go to the store today to run some errands and all of a sudden these cards starting falling from the sky. Check it out!" Lincoln and Lori watched as Dan held up a card identical to the one they had as well as him one sphere. Dan's was red with yellow highlights.

"Yeah, same with us, look." Lincoln said as both he and Lori showed up their card and sphere's.

"This is totally freaky dude!" Dan said as suddenly another window popped up in the chat.

This window showed a girl Dan's age with blue hair done in long pig tails. She had green eyes and wore a yellow tank top with black stiches. This was Runo Misaki. "So, are we talking about the cards falling from the sky?" Runo asked everyone to which they all nodded. "Well check mine out, isn't this just completely weird?" They watched as Runo showed off a white sphere with yellow highlights.

"Yeah, it happened to me to." Another boy entered the chat. He was a year old then Dan and Runo and had black hair and wore a blue shirt with a thin purple shirt over that. This was Shun Kazami. "Check it." Shun then showed off a sphere with similar colors to Lori.

"Oh, we match Shun!" Lori said as she showed off her own sphere again.

Just then another person entered the chat. This was a Hispanic girl about lincoln's age that wore a dark magenta hoodie with her black hair done up in a ponytail. This was Ronnie Anne Santiago. "Hey, it's happening over at Great Lakes City as well." Ronnie explained as she held up her own card and showed off a sphere that was primarily brown colored.

"Wow, its happening all the way over there to?" Dan commented with a surprised expression.

"I wonder how far this is spreading?" Shun asked with a calm expression as he crossed his arms.

Just then another girl opened the chat. She was Dan's age and had tan skin, dull blue eyes, and white hair done in a ponytail and wore a pink sleeveless vest with a yellow heart on it. "Hey guys! So, have you seen what's been happening lately?" Julie asked as she showed off a card similar to everyone else's as well as sphere that was similar to everyone else's.

"Woah, Julie this is going on in Australia to?" Lincoln asked with a surprised tone.

"It's happening all over the world." Just then another girl entered the chat. She was a year older the Shun. She had orange hair, and dark orange eyes wearing a green blouse and a yellow dress. This was Alice Maekawa. "It's happening all over the world."

"Woah, seriously?" Lori asked with a surprised tone and expression.

"Indeed." Another person entered the chat. This was a boy the same age as Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. He had blond hair and had blue eyes with glasses with a red rim. He wore a white hoodie with blue hightlights. This was Marucho Marukura. They watched as Marucho showed off his own card as well as a sphere that was colored blue.

"Hold on, let me check this out." Lincoln said as he shrunk the chat room and opened up a browser. Checking out the news, he and Lori saw that every article was about the cards falling from the sky. From Japan, to Germany, to Mexico, to Puerto Rico. It was happening everywhere!

All of them were about the same cards falling from the sky and creating these spheres to which there seemed to be 6 different kinds. Red, blue, white, brown, green, and black. Some stories even explain about the cards sending people to this giant open space and the balls transforming into these colossal giant creatures.

"Geez, this is just crazy." Lincoln commented as he looked through article after article. Even with some being in a different language, he still wanted to see them. To say his interest was peaked was an understatement. He had so many questions going through his mind right now. Like, 'where did these come from' or 'what are these things.'

"Seriously, you girls to?" Looking behind, Lincoln saw Lori was on her phone and had quite the surprised expression on her face. "Alright, I'll talk to you girls later." Lori then hung up for phone and faced Lincoln again. "Those were my school friends. They _all _also found cards as well."

"Then this really is happening everywhere." Lincoln said as he looked back at his black and purple ball the card gave him. "Just what are these things."

"I literally have no idea." Lori stated as she looked at her green ball. "I won't lie though, I'm really curious."

"Um guys, still here." They heard Dan's voice come through the computer. Lincoln sweat dropped a bit as he opened up the chat window back up and saw Dan, Runo, and Ronnie Anne give them deadpanned looked while the rest of them were sweat dropping with the expectation of Shun who simply had his eyes closed.

"Sorry guys, kinda got a little into it." Lincoln sheepishly admitted.

"No, we understand." Marucho reassured them. "I must admit, this entire predicament is quite intriguing."

"Yeah, its already all over the news." Runo commented as everyone watched as she examined her white sphere.

"Ooooo! I just got a fantastic idea you guys!" Julie said with an excited smile. "We should all try to figure this out together! It could end up being really fun!"

"I'm game for that." Ronnie Anne said as she tossed the brown sphere up and down.

Shun smirked as he nodded his head. "I guess if you're all part of this, then I don't wanna be let out." The black-haired teen said.

"Alright, you're all in agreement then?" Lincoln asked, getting nods from everyone in the chat. The white-haired boy then turned to his oldest sister and asked her. "What about you Lori? You want in on this?"

Lori's eyes widened a bit in surprise. She was honestly surprised at the offer for this. Normally Lincoln tried to keep his friend life and family life separated with the exception of Clyde. Especially due to certain insentience of her and her sisters scaring his friends off or ending up doing something to embarrass him or them or both.

And once again, she was really interested in these things. Normally she wouldn't care about even stuff as weird as this and mainly focus on stuff like her boyfriend, and her social life. But something about these cards and sphere really piqued her interest.

So, tossing the green sphere in her hand into the air before watching it and holding it in a tight grip before nodding. "Alright, I'm in."

Both Lincoln and Lori looked into each other's eyes. Somehow, they could feel the determination in them as the sphere's each of them held suddenly filled them with a new energy. Because little do they know…

It would lead them and their friends towards the adventure of a lifetime.

* * *

_**Alright! Not long but this is just a prologue so don't worry the hype train is just getting started!**_ **_So, as some of you can tell, Lori is gonna be the main sibling here similar to how Leni is the main sibling in Loud 10. I've said it before that I think Lori is underrated and gets to much hate so now I'm giving her, her time to shine! So I hope you all Favorite, Follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for..._**

**_"The Battle Begins!"_**


	2. The Battle Begins

**_That was fast huh? Haha, couldn't help myself. I'm so freaking excited for this story! I just wanna make as many chapter for it as possible so this story is gonna be priority one for a bit, lol. But hey, it seems you guys really like it and I'm so glad me and Petrus aren't the only Bakugan fans out there!_**

**_It still lives!  
_**

**_But anyway, on with the chapter and I hope you guys enjoy!_**

* * *

A lot can happen in 6 months. Yep, that's how longs its been since those mysterious cards have fallen from the sky and have landed all over the world. Stories emerged about sphere's being released from the cards. However, that wasn't the half of it.

Apparently, these cards opened up some sort of hyperspace when you used them. And when these balls were unleased into this environment, they would turn into giant titans that could battle. To say the world was in a bit of a shock was an understatement.

At first everyone was confused and didn't know what do to with these creatures. But not to long after they appeared…the greatest game in history was made.

It turns out the name of these creatures were Bakugan and they came in six different attributes.

Pyrus, the element of fire.

Haos, the element of light.

Aquas, the element of water.

Subterra, the element of earth.

Ventus, the element of wind.

And Darkus, the element of darkness.

And even more then that, these Bakugan came equipped with more cards. Gate cards, and ability cards. Gate cards were essentially the playing field. A Bakugan had to land a gate card to stand and be released from its tiny ball form. The gate care could also be opened and have various effects on the battle. The ability cards were connected to the Bakugan themselves and their unique elemental abilities.

The goal of the game was that each play has 3 Bakugan they can use and to win, you have to take all of your opponent's Bakugan down.

And who made these rules?

None other then the Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The members consisted of Dan Kuso, Runo Misaki, Marucho Marukura, Shun Kazami, Julie Makimoto, Alice Maekawa, Lori Loud, and Lincoln Loud. While Ronnie Anne did help out with the rules as well, she wasn't interested in being part of the gang. But the point is, when the Bakugan came, these guys came in and made the rules of the game.

And to say it took off like wildfire would be the understatement of the century. Kids all over the world quickly started playing, websites about just Bakugan were made, even a world wide ranking system was made with the top ranking player being none other then the Ventus expert Shun.

And all of that leads us to today…

Lincoln was seen coming home from school in quite the hurray. His legs were moving as fast as they could go as he was rushing home. He had an excited smile on his face as he already had some fun plans for today. He just had to make it home real quick for a pit stop and then it's to the park!

Soon enough Lincoln reached his house, otherwise known as the Loud House both for this family's last name as well as being the loudest house in the neighborhood, and quickly opened the door and rushed inside. In the living room, Lynn Sr was seen reading the paper but stopped when he saw and heard his only son rush inside. "Hey Lincoln," Lynn Sr greeted his son. "How was scho-"

"Sorry dad! Can't talk right now!" Lincoln quickly said as he rushed upstairs as fast as he could.

"Oh, uh, good talk!" Lynn Sr called out awkwardly before going back to his paper. He should have been used to Lincoln being like this by now, but it was still a bit of an unnatural occurrence for him seeing his son like this. Normally Lincoln would have stopped to have a small chat with his old man, but ever since that day 6 months ago, Lincoln always seemed to be in a rush for something. Whether it was talking with his friends online or going out to meet some of them that lived nearby. Also, it seemed all he talked about recently was this Bakugan game.

In fact, it seemed to be all most of his children talked about. Lynn would still talk about sports and such, but she loved bragging about her various victories in Bakugan. Lisa would always take about her research on the Bakugan and Bakugan cards. Even Leni would stop acting like an airhead to everything other then fashion and would have discussion's about Bakugan and even talking about strategies and game plans. Leni Loud. Talking about strategies and game plans. What's next? Pigs start flying.

However, out of the girls, the one who was easily talked about Bakugan the most was his oldest daughter Lori. Honestly, all he used to hear Lori talk about was Bobby and her friends. Although most of the time she was one her phone and not even interacting with anyone.

But when Bakugan came to town, she honestly couldn't stop talking about it and she was usually on her computer talking with _Lincolns_ friends about the various things about the game.

On the bright side, her relationship with Lincoln has massively improved. Before Bakugan, Lincoln and Lori didn't have the best relationship among the siblings. Yes, for the most part they got along. But it was pretty easy for her to get ticked off at her brother and threated to 'Turn him into a human pretzel.' Plus, Lori is usually pretty strict when it comes to her privacy, but it was especially bad with Lincoln to the point where he was hardly even allowed _near _Lori's room.

But once Bakugan started to become the hot topic around the world, Lincoln going into Lori and Leni's room was becoming an extremely normal thing to where it happened daily. Even having sleep overs in there. And the topic the two almost always talked about. Bakugan.

The two of them often discussing the game, go over and making the rules for it, and of course playing the game. The two were pretty even in terms of skill but it would seem Lori held more victories over Lincoln.

But they did go into topics other then Bakugan. Lori would sometimes help Lincoln with his schoolwork, social advice, and even Lincoln would help Lori with a few things she struggled with. Honestly, the bonds between these two were never better and possibly the greatest bond between the siblings of the family.

* * *

Back with Lincoln, the Loud boy quickly went into his room and threw his backpack onto his bed, not caring about where it landed and quickly opened the top part of his drawer. He then reached inside and pulled out an orange plastic case with purple highlights. "Alright, who should I bring today?" Lincoln asked himself as he opened the case and revealed its contents. Inside of the case was a bunch of Darkus Bakugan balls.

He then reached into the drawer again and pulled out a small box that was black with a purple lid. Opening that up, it was shown to be a variety of cards. The box was separated with half being gate cards and the other half being ability cards.

"Alright, what to choose, what to choose?" Lincoln muttered to himself as he put a hand to his chin. Lincoln then snapped his fingers as he reached into the case with the Bakugan and started pulling some out. "Alright, definitely gonna take my Fear Ripper. Hmmm, oh yeah my Centipoid for sure! And who else…ah, of course I gotta take my Monarus." Lincoln then took his selected Bakugan and put them into his Bakugan carrier attached to his belt. He then grabbed some cards from the other box and put them into the card barrier attached to the opposite side of his belt. "Alright! I'm good to go!"

Lincoln then quickly left his room and was about to go downstairs when, "Going somewhere little bro?" Lincoln stopped and smiled when he saw his oldest sister Lori smirking at him and leaning on the wall next to her and Leni room while crossing her arms.

Lincoln smiled as he ran in place as he looked at his oldest sister. "Yeah! Gonna meet Dan at the park! Gotta brawl with some guy who called me and Dan out on our skills." Lincoln explained as Lori snickered in response.

"Well if that's the case, then your gonna need this." Lori then reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. She expertly threw it towards Lincoln to which the Loud boy caught it with the same skill as the throw. "I scored that at school today, but I'm not really interested in those kinds of card. But I thought you would love it."

Lincoln rose a brow and looked over the gate card before smiling widely. "Woah! I've wanted this one forever but I couldn't seem to find it!" Lincoln cheered before going up to Lori and giving her a hug. "Thanks Lori! You're the best!"

"Anytime little bro." Lori said as she returned the hug and patted her little brother on the head. "Now go and show that guy just what you can do."

"Will do Lori!" Lincoln quickly responded with as he started to run down stair. "Thanks again! I'll tell Dan you said hi!"

"Lincoln! Make sure your home for dinner tonight!" Lincoln heard his mother Rita say from her bedroom.

"Don't worry mom! I will!" Lincoln quickly responded with as he headed back outside and headed towards his destination.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, Lincoln found himself in his towns park. Looking around, Lincoln looked around for Dan but couldn't seem to find him. Raising an eyebrow, Lincoln held up his left wrist and turned on a purple device that was attached to his wrist. This item was known as a Baku-pod. It was pretty much a phone combined with a watch but also served as a way of keeping track of a Bakugan game.

Looking at the time, Lincoln nodded when he saw that it was indeed the time he and Dan were supposed to meet up. "Where is he?" Lincoln asked himself as he continued to look around. "Ah, don't tell me he forgot."

"Wait! I'm here!" Lincoln heard someone calling to him. Lincoln sighed as he heard the breaking of bike wheels. The white head then looked behind him and saw none other then Dan Kuso approaching him on his bike. "Sorry about that, got held up a little bit."

"Well at least you're here now." Lincoln said as he gave Dan a small smile. "Always good to see you buddy." Lincoln and Dan then shared a fist bump and smirked at each other. "So, where's that guy who challenged us?"

"Ha, wouldn't be surprised if we scared em off." Dan boasted as he confident as he puffed up his chest. "Probably learned better than to mess with us."

"Don't be so sure of yourself Danny boy." A new voice was heard as both boys looked to the source of it. Standing next to a park bench was a boy a bit younger than Lincoln. Similar to Lincoln himself he had buck teeth. He had brown eyes and dull orange hair that was mostly covered by a backwards cap. He had a green shirt on that had an upside-down lightbulb on it and regular jeans. "You're late ya know."

"Better late then never Akira." Lincoln stated as he looked down at the kid and put his hands in his pockets.

Dan smirked and looked at the bench behind Akira and saw someone sitting in it. "So, who ya got with ya? Hope its backup because you'll need it." Dan commented with a grin that showed he was just aching for a battle.

"Sorry Linky, sorry Danny, but you battle isn't with me today." Akira stated as the person behind him stood up. He was shown to be a rather big and tough guy with black hair. He had a gray tee-shirt, an orange jacket with black highlights, dull green jeans with orange highlights and black fingerless gloves.

"Heh, bet's he thinks he's tough." Lincoln muttered with a smirk.

The boy then gave a cocky grin as he started walking towards Lincoln and Dan while cracking his knuckles. "My little bro here says you two think you're pretty good. Well I guess its time to test how good you really are."

"Yeah I'm pretty good." Dan said as he looked the boy right in the eyes.

"Same here, I don't like to brag but I've scored a lot of victories." Lincoln bragged a bit as he gave a smirk. "So, what's your deal exactly?"

"Names Shuji." The boy, now known as Shuji, introduced himself in a cocky and confident tone. "And I'm…the master of Subterra space."

"Earth element huh?" Lincoln asked with a grin. "Well, it just so happens two of my older sisters are also partial to that element. So I have some experience dealing with that type."

"Well then you've never battled me before." Shuji responded with a tone that showed he was just picking for a brawl.

"Alright Shuji, ready when you are." Dan said as he held up his field card. However, Lincoln's eyes widened a bit as he lightly bumped Dan's shoulder.

"Hey who says you get to fight him I'm here to ya know." Lincoln said as he wanted to battle Shuji just as much as Dan.

"Come on man, I'm already hyped up don't stop me now." Dan told Lincoln as he already had his field card raised up in his hand.

"Hey who got here on time." Lincoln stated as he felt he deserved to battle since he was the one who bothered to show up on time.

"Would you ladies quit squawking!" Shuji yelled at them as he was started to get both annoyed and impatient at the two of them. "I don't care who I brawl, just hurry up and decide so I can crush one of you."

Both Dan and Lincoln looked to each other before Lincoln raised up a finger as an idea came to him. "Let's flip a coin for it." Lincoln then reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "Your call."

"Heads." Dan said with a confident tone as he crossed his arms.

"Alright, then I got tails!" Lincoln said as he flipped the coin into the air. Dan, Lincoln, Shuji, and Akira watched as the coin was launched into the air before reach its peak and gravity bringing back down into Lincolns hand and-

"Alright! Tail!" Lincoln cheered as he and Dan watched the coin land on the tail end.

"Ah what?!" Dan yelled before lightly growling and crossing his arms. "This bites!"

"Sorry Dan, the coin has spoken." Lincoln said as he looked Shuji in the eye and started walking towards him. Lincoln reached into his card back on his belt and pulled out his field card. "Ready when you are."

"Prepare to go crying home to mommy snowball." Shuji told Lincoln with a cocky grin as they both raised up their field cards and said in unison…

"**Bakugan Field Open!**"

When they said that, both their field cards started glowing with Shuji's glowing brown and Lincoln's glowing purple with the circle of Bakugan elements appearing under them. Suddenly, the world around them started to come to a halt.

Time itself was stopping for the sake of this battle. From the birds stopping in midair, to the child in the swing suddenly freezing in place when he reached the peak of height, to Dan's father freezing as he tripped while carrying pudding.

But to Lincoln and Shuji, the world around them started to completely change. They were suddenly standing what was probably multiple football fields apart on a big white field while the sky and area around them changed to a scene that showed the colors of the six elements swirling together.

Just then both boys looked to each other and smirked as they both jumped high into the air with a card in their hand. "**Gate Card set!**" Both boys then threw the gate card out of the hands and towards the field. The gate cards then landed opposite of their owners and when they landed, they glowed purple and brown respectively before enlarging into gigantic sizes.

When they both landed back on the ground, Shuji grinned as he held a Subterra Bakugan in his hand. "Get ready to cry snowman." Shuji said before getting into a throwing position. "Bakugan Brawl!" Shuji then threw the Bakugan at his own gate card. The Bakugan rolled before landing on the center of the card. "Bakugan Stand!"

The ball then opened up and glowed as the true power of the Bakugan was unleashed. Lincoln watched as a giant Preying Mantis-like creature emerged and looked down at Lincoln. "Woah, glad Leni or Lola aren't hear right now." Lincoln commented as he knew those two sisters of his would freak out over a 100-foot-tall bug. "Alright Baku-pod, what's the data?"

Lincoln then activated his Baku-pod causing it to open up and show a simplified version of the battlefield as well as showing Lincoln and Shuji's pictures and how many Bakugan they have left. Just then a picture of Mantris appeared under Shuji's picture as the Baku-pod spoke in a synthesized female voice. "_Welcome Lincoln. Opponents Subterra Mantris power level 2-7-0 G's. No other data available."_

'_Alright, I can work with this.' _Lincoln thought as he quickly began to strategize in his head. '_Alright, he's probably gonna relay on pure power to do this. His gate card will probably boost his power level by at least 100 G's. Alright, I know what do to!'_

"Alright Shuji, get ready to face what a Darkus brawler can do!" Lincoln yelled to the Subterra user as he pulled out a card. "Gate Card set!" Lincoln then threw his gate card right next to Shuji's making it expand and for three gate cards to be out on the field. The white-haired boy then reached for the Bakugan carrier on his belt and took out one of his Darkus Bakugan. "Alright! Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw the Bakugan at the same card as the Subterra Mantris. "Darkus Fear-Ripper stand!"

The Bakugan Lincoln threw then landed on the center of the card and opened up. The Bakugan flew as it to was released from its ball form. Fear-Ripper was a humanoid-like Bakugan with giant hands and giant claws to go with it. And being Darkus he was primarily black with purple highlights and a few other colors around his body and yellow eyes.

"_Darkus Fear-Ripper enters the battle at 2-5-0 G's_." The Baku-Pod recorded as a picture of Fear-Ripper appeared under Lincoln's picture.

Shuji looked at the data and let out a cocky laugh. "Wow, if that's the best you can do then you should just give up now!" Shuji then held out his hand and called out. "**Gate Card: Open!**" Just then, Shuji's Gate Card glowed as suddenly the environment around them started to change. The plain white field changed into a field of sand with even pyramids appearing in the distance.

Suddenly Mantris started glowing brown as Lincoln looked to his Baku-Pod. "_Mantris power level increase by 1-5-0 G's. Mantris power now at 4-2-0 G's."_ The Baku-Pod explained as Mantrix now had 170 G's over Lincoln's Fear-Ripper.

"Alright Mantris! Take him down!" Shuji ordered as the Subterra Bakugan roared and charged at Fear-Ripper with its sharp front legs out and ready to strike.

"Not so fast Shuji!" Lincoln retaliated as he held up a card. "**Ability Card Activate: Darkus Judgement!**" The card let out a dark aura as Lincoln threw it right at Fear-Ripper with the Bakugan absorbing the power of the ability card. Fear-Ripper's body then let released an aura similar to the ability card with his claws glowing purple and extending even further.

"_Fear-Ripper power increase by 2-0-0 G's. Fear-Ripper power level now at 4-5-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod recorded as Fear-Ripper's power now surpassed that of Mantris's.

"What?! How's that possible?!" Shuji yelled as he looked at his Baku-Pod.

"Darkus Judgement is an ability card that increases my Bakugan's power level by 100 G's." Lincoln explained to Shuji with a smirk on his face. "I figured your gate card might give a big increase of G power to you, so I blindsided you by landing another gate card and then sending my Fear-Ripper with a low power level after your Mantris. Now Fear-Ripper! Take him down!"

Fear-Ripper let out a roar as it charged at the Subterra Bakugan and raised up its hands and…

_SLASH!_

_SLASH!_

Fear-Ripper slashed the Mantis-Bakugan with its large claws and was now standing right behind the Subterra Bakugan with its aura disappearing and its claws returning to normal size. Subterra Mantris roared in defeated as it glowed orange and was reverted back to its ball form and was sent back to Shuji's side with it landing on the floor and rolled to Shuji's feet.

"Better luck next time Shuji." Lincoln said with a victorious grin as Fear-Ripper glowed purple before returning to its ball form and returning to Lincoln with Lincoln catching the ball in his hand.

Shuji growled in response as he picked up his defeated Mantris. "Don't think you've won yet kid. You just got lucky." Shuji then reached for another Subterra Bakugan and proceeded to throw it towards one of Lincoln's gate cards. "Bakugan Brawl!" The Subterra Bakugan bounced a few times before landing in the middle and opening up. "Subterra Saurous Stand!"

The Bakugan then glowed as it was released from its ball form. Saurous resembled a bipedal rhino-like creature that roared as it was awakened on the gate card. "_Subterra Saurous enters battle at 3-2-0 G's"_ The Baku-pod recorded.

"Hope you're ready to loss again Shuji!" Lincoln yelled before grabbing Fear-Ripper again. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Fear-Ripper at the same card Saurous was one. "Fear-Ripper! Stand!" Fear Ripper then opened up and his true form was once again released into the battle.

"_Darkus Fear-Ripper enters battle at 2-5-0 G's_." The Baku-Pod recorded as the brawl started.

"**Gate Card: Open! Chaos Storm!**" Lincoln announced as his gate card activated. Storm clouds appeared above the battlefield as dark purple lightning bolts came down from them. Just then two lightning bolts struck down at the same time with one hitting Saurous and the other hitting Fear-Ripper. Saurous roared in pain as Fear-Ripper started glowing with power. "Check it Shuji, Chaos storm is a gate card that raises my Bakugan's power level by 50 G's while lowering my opponents by the same amount!"

"_Darkus Fear-Ripper power increase by 5-0 G's. Subterra Saurous power decrease by 5-0 G's."_ The Baku-Pod explained as it showed Fear-Ripper increasing in power to 300 G's and Saurous decreasing to 270 G's.

Fear-Ripper then charged at Saurous with its claws at the ready. However, Shuji smirked and chuckled as he held up a card. "Please, I can beat that move with my eyes closed." Shuji bragged before raising the card in the air. "**Ability Card Activate: Earth Crusher!**"

Saurous glowed brown as he got into a sumo wrestler position and raised his foot up air before slamming it down and creating an earthquake. Just then gate card under them started to crack before completely shattering and disappearing. The storm clouds disappeared as Fear-Ripper stopped glowing.

"_Gate Card neutralized. Fear-Ripper power decrease by 5-0 G's. Saurous power increase by 5-0 G's" _The Baku-Pod explained as both Bakugan went back to their base levels.

"What?! How?!" Lincoln yelled as he watched his Gate Card be destroyed.

"You like that?" Shuji said in a cocky tone with a just as cocky grin. "My ability card just completely neutralized your gate card. Now let him have it Saurous!"

Saurous roared as it charged at Fear-Ripper with its fist reared back. Saurous then unleased a mighty punch to Fear-Ripper sending the Darkus Bakugan to the ground as it glowed purple and was reverted back to its ball form and landed on the ground at Lincoln's feet.

"Hahahaha, man that was almost to easy." Shuji mocked as Saurous was reverted back to a ball with Shuji catching it. "The rest of this battle is gonna be a piece of cake. Gate Card Set!" Shuji then three down a gate card right in front of Lincoln's other gate card that was still on the field.

Lincoln picked up Fear-Ripper and put it back in his Bakugan carrier before grabbing his second Bakugan. "Don't count your chickens until they hatch Shuji." Lincoln warned the Subterra user as he reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw the Bakugan at Shuji's gate card where it landed on the middle and opened up. "Darkus Centipoid Stand!"

The Bakugan glowed as it was unleased onto the battle with Centipoid resembling a giant centipede-like creature with red eyes. "You're just asking for punishment, aren't you?" Shuji said as he grabbed another Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Shuji then threw the Bakugan towards his own Gate Card and Centipoid where it repeated the process of landing on the middle and opening up. "Terraclaw stand!"

The Bakugan then opened up as a giant crab-like creature emerged for the ball and roared at Centipoid. "Darkus _Centipoid stands at 3-1-0 G's. Subterra Terraclaw enters battle at 2-9-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod recorded as both Bakugan roared at each other before charging and entering a power struggling with Centipoid gaining the upper hand due to his higher power level.

"Alright Centipoid! Take him down!" Lincoln cheered as Centipoid started pinning Terraclaw to the ground.

"Don't think so!" Shuji yelled as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card Open: Energy Merge!**" Shuji's gate card then glowed as suddenly a wave of energy came out of Centipoid and flowed into Terraclaw.

"Looks like your lucks run out old man hair." Shuji said, making more insults to Lincoln's hair color. "Energy Merge is a gate card that zaps 100 G's of power from your Bakugan and adds it to mine!"

"_1-0-0 G's of power siphoned from Darkus Centipoid and added onto Subterra Terraclaw. Terraclaw now stands at 3-9-0 G's." _The Baku-Pod recorded as it showed the power of Centipoid get transferred to Terraclaw.

Terraclaw roared as it now started to easily overpower Centipoid. "Looks like your lucks run out little boy." Shuji mocked before letting out a cocky laugh.

"I don't think so Shuji!" Lincoln said as he grabbed his third Bakugan from his Bakugan carrier. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch! Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw the Darkus Bakugan towards his own gate card that was set behind Shuji's gate card. "Darkus Monarus stand!" The Bakugan then landed in the middle of the card and opened up.

The Bakugan glowed as it stood and was unleased from its ball form. Now standing, or rather flying, above the gate card was a humanoid-butterfly-like creature that was colored black and purple like all Darkus Bakugan. "_Darkus Monarus entered battle at 3-3-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod explained as it showed Monarus entering the battle as well as its picture.

"Ha, a lot of good your Bakugans gonna do ya on a different card." Shuji mocked Lincoln more as Terraclaw almost completely pinned Centipoid.

"You'd be surprised at the tricks I keep up my sleeves Shuji." Lincoln stated with a smirked as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Attractor!**" Suddenly Centipoid's red eyes glowed as suddenly the ground beneath it and Terraclaw cracked opened with Centipoid entering into the cracked ground.

Just then the ground opened up beneath Monarus as Centipoid emerged from it and pulled its fellow Darkus Bakugan down into the ground with it. Another moment later, Centipoid with Monarus in tow came back up on the gate card where Terraclaw stood with both Darkus Bakugan facing the Subterra Bakugan.

"Eat it Shuji, Attractor is an ability exclusive to Centipoid that allows me to bring in any of my Bakugan on the battlefield to help out Centipoid and its brawl!" Lincoln explained as both Monarus and Centipoid starred down Terraclaw.

"_Centipoid and Monarus power levels combine to make 5-4-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod explained as it combined both Centipoids and Monarus's picture and G power into one.

"What?! No way!" Shuji yelled as Centipoid and Monarus attacked Terraclaw at the same time. Terraclaw roared as it was sent back and was reverted back to its ball form and landed at Shuji's feet.

"Oh, and one more thing Shuji." Lincoln said as both his Bakugan reverted into ball form and went back to Lincoln with the Loud boy catching both balls easily. "I don't believe in luck. This is nothing but pure skill." Shuji growled in response as Lincoln took a card out of his card carrier on his belt and looked at it with a smile. "Thanks again Lori. Gate Card set!" Lincoln then threw the gate card to the left of the one he put on the field earlier in the game causing it to expand.

"Its all up to you!" Lincoln said as he pulled out his Darkus Monarus again. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw the Bakugan towards is new gate card where it promptly landed in the middle. "Bakugan Stand!" Monarus then glowed as it was once again unleashed into the battle.

Shuji growled in response as he took his Saurous again. "It ain't over till its over ya hear me!" Shuji yelled before throwing his Saurous towards the gate card Monarus was on. "Bakugan Brawl! Saurous stand!" The Saurous then landed on the middle of the card and was unleashed from its ball form and roared at Monarus.

"_Saurous enters the battle at 3-2-0 G's. Darkus Monarus leads by 3-3-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod explained as it showed both Saurous's and Monarus's pictures and G power with Monarus having 10 G's over Saurous.

"Alright snowflake, let's see how you handle this!" Shuji yelled as he pulled out a card. "**Ability Card Activate: Rocky Retaliation!**" Shuji then threw the ability card at Saurous with the Subterra Bakugan absorbing it and gaining a powerful brown aura.

"_Subterra Saurous power increase by 2-0-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod said as it showed Saurous's power increasing from 320 G's to 520 G's.

"This is over kid." Shuji boasted with a grin. "My rocky retaliation ability card increases my Bakugan's power level by 100 G's for every Bakugan that's been knocked out on my side. Try beating that."

Lincoln grinned a he thought. '_Alright Lori, lets see what this card can really do_.' Before looking Shuji right in the eyes. "Challenge excepted Shuji!" Lincoln raised his hand into the air and shouted with all his might. "**GATE CARD OPEN: RANK ZERO!**"

Lincoln's gate card then started glowing as suddenly Saurous froze in place, as if stuck in time. "What?! What happened?!" Shuji yelled in confusion he watched is Saurous freeze in place.

"Looks like your down Shuji." Lincoln said with a victorious grin. "Rank Zero is a gate card that completely nullifies and freezes any and all ability cards used by your opponent."

"_Saurous power reduction by 2-0-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod then showed Saurous power he gained from the ability card be nullified and the Subterra Bakugan going back to his original power level.

"Monarus now!" Lincoln ordered as Monarus flew down at Saurous at full speed and dropped kicked the Subterra Bakugan in the face.

"Nooooo!" Shuji yelled as Saurous was taken down and soon reverted to back to its ball form and landed on the ground and Shuji's feet with the bully himself landing on his knees in defeat.

Monarus then reverted back its ball form with Lincoln catch it and giving a victorious grin. "And that, as they say, is that." The Loud boy said as he put his Monarus back.

"_Game set match. Winner Lincoln." _The Baku-Pod announced as the field around them glowed and suddenly disappeared as they both found themselves at the park again. And when they battlefield disappeared and time in the real world started moving again. The birds continued to fly, the child began swinging again, and Dan's father dropped his pudding on the floor.

Akira looked to his older brother and was silent for a moment before looking at the defeated expression on his brothers face. "What?! You said you would clean their clocks!" Akira yelled at Shuji.

"I'm sorry." Shuji apologized while looking away. "He got me."

"Ha, piece of cake." Lincoln said in a confident tone as he patted his Bakugan carrier.

"I take it you kicked his butt?" Dan asked as he walked next to Lincoln with his arms crossed behind his head.

"Oh yeah." Lincoln responded with a smirk. "I kicked his butt."

* * *

_**THAT NIGHT**_

"And then I used my new gate card on him, and it was over just like that!" Currently, Lincoln was in his room laying on his bed with his laptop in front of him and in a video chat with Dan, Runo, Marucho, Julie, and Alice with their video icons having their attribute in the corner of their window with Runo having Haos, Marucho having Aquas, Julie having Subterra, Dan having Pyrus, and Alice not having an attribute symbol.

"Man, I can't believe your sister just _gave _you a Rank Zero card." Dan huffed with his arms crossed. "Those things are hard to come by."

"Well I think that was sweet of her." Julie said with a kind smile. "Its nice to hear you to have such a great relationship. Kinda like me and my Danny~"

"Ew, get real Julie." Dan said in an uncomfortable tone. Yeah, anyone could tell Julie had a huge crush on Dan and she didn't bother to hide it. However, one thing everyone failed to see when Julie gushed over Dan was that Alice seemed to pout as her cheeks puff up.

"Anyway…" Alice said, interrupting Julie's gushing. "The Rank Zero is a powerful gate card. It was awfully nice of her to give it to ya."

"Ah, it might be a good card, but I could've beaten that chump in half the time without it!" Dan boasted with Lincoln and Runo rolling their eyes in response. "Afterall, you're all looking at the great Bakugan battler in the world!"

"Oh, get off your high horse Dan!" Runo yelled at the brunette. "You're just jealous Lincoln got to brawl and you didn't."

"What'd you say?!" Dan yelled at the bluenette as he glared at Runo.

"Ok, lets try to calm down everyone." Marucho said with a sweat drop as he tried to play peace maker.

Runo simply huffed before speaking up again. "Anyway, I just check the world ranking and your sitting at 121 Dan."

"What that's impossible. I gotta check this out." Dan said as Lincoln saw him typing on his computer.

"Yeah I wanna see where I'm at to." Lincoln said as he opened up the Bakugan website on his computer and accessed the world ranking.

"Ha! 117!" Dan said as he found himself ranked 4 spots higher then what Runo said.

"Hey Dan! Look!" Lincoln said with a grin. "I'm 115!"

"What?!" Dan gasped out. "How did you get 2 places higher than me?!"

"Well regardless of that, you two should both hold your breath until you make the top 10." Runo told the two boys with an amused smirk.

"Hey I'm not the one bragging about it." Lincoln muttered to which only Alice and Marucho seemed to have heard him as they both sweat dropped in response.

"Oh yeah like you're one to talk." Dan said, directed right at Runo. "You're not even ranked." Dan then blew a raspberry at Runo making the bluenette get a tick mark and more her pigtails to rise up with her anger.

"Oh like that's so mature!" Runo yelled back at the Pyrus user.

"Hey wait guys, I wanna check something." Lincoln said as he went back on the leader board and typed a name. Once done, he hit enter and the list scrolled up until it reached 81st place. "_Lori Loud rank 81 out of top 100._" The computer said in a voice identical to the Baku-pod.

"What?! How's that possible dude?!" Dan yelled as he overheard Lincoln's computer. "How is your big sis that high in the ranks?"

"What can I say, she's got game." Lincoln answered with a shrug. "You should try battling her more Dan because she's a really good Bakugan player."

"Well I'm proud of you danny!" Julie said, interrupting the conversation, as she gushed over Dan again with a blush on her face. "You got up 4 whole places in one day! I think that's worthy of a smooch from Julie!" Julie then puckered up her lips and kissed the screen on her computer.

"Aaaah! Gross!" Dan yelled in response he hell on his back. "Ow! That hurt! Quit slobbering up the screen! I'm a Battle Brawler I'm not your boyfriend."

"Yes Julie." Alice said in a calm tone but if one looked closely enough you could see the ginger struggling not to pout again. "You should respect Dan's personal space.

"Ugh, this is so kindergarten." Runo said in a slightly disgust tone as she turned her head away.

Julie now had hearts coming out of her body again as Alice started to pout and hide it from everyone while Marucho looked around the various chat box's sheepishly. "Oh Dan! I'll always be your biggest fan in the world!"

"Marucho I think we lost everyone." Lincoln said with an amused smirk.

"It would appear so." Marucho responded with an awkward smile. The blond boy then adjusted his glasses and spoke up again. "Anyway you two, I think you really should be setting your sights on Shun. He's ranked number one and in a few years one of you could surpass him."

"Geez, a few years." Lincoln repeated with a frown. He…honestly didn't wanna wait that long.

"There has to be a way one of you two could challenge him now." Alice said with a small frown as even she wasn't sure about waiting that long for one of her two friends to reach the very top.

"Hmph, I bet I could beat that jerk with my eyes closed." Dan said as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Other then Linc, no ones even come close to challenging me. Better look out Shun, because I'm gonna take you down."

Lincoln hummed for a bit in response to Dan's words before giving his friends a small smile. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay you guys. I hope you all have a nice night."

"Good night Lincoln!" The five on video chat said in unison before the Loud boy shut his computer off and turned in for the night.

* * *

…

…

…

…

Currently in an entirely different world, the creatures known as Bakugan roamed. What almost everyone was unaware of, was that the Bakugan came from an entirely different universe, separate from the one earth resided in. This world was called _Vestroia_. Vestroia was separated into 6 different spaces that corresponded to each element.

And currently in Pyrus space…

"Naga! Stop!" A white dragon Bakugan was flying through the area only to be cut off by another dragon-like Bakugan. This Bakugan was of the Pyrus element and had mostly red scales over his body, dark yellow scales over his belly and the bottom of his tail, sharp claws on his feet and hand with his arms connecting to his wings and a single horn and green eyes.

"Out of my way Drago!" Naga demanded of the Pyrus Bakugan, now known as Drago.

"Why are you so obsessed with gain all this power Naga?" Drago questioned as he continued to stand in the white Bakugan's way. "You know that it will only lead to your ultimate destruction."

"Silence!" Naga yelled back with anger clear in his voice. "You have no idea of what we feel inside! You know nothing of our world."

"I suspect you are the one behind the human they call Micheal." Drago stated as he's both heard the rumors as well as even seen the results of what this Micheal had done when coming here. "What I don't know is, where did you find him?"

Naga laughed in response as he proceeded to raise up his hand. And in his claws, he held a card similar to the ones the people of earth used while engaged in a Bakugan battle. "Do you know what this is?" Naga asked while Drago simply growled in response. Naga then threw the card to the side where it proceeded to glow and open up a portal.

"A portal!" Drago gasped as Naga started flying into it.

"Yes!" Naga yelled as he entered the portal which quickly started shrinking once he entered. "It leads to the source of the power!"

"But to where?" Drago wondered as he didn't know exactly where this 'Power' was located.

"It leads to the very center of Vestroia!" Naga's voice echoed throughout the area.

* * *

Back in the human world, it was sunset the next day and Dan and Lincoln were walking through the park. However, they stopped walking when they saw Akira and Shuji come up in front of them with the later saying. "Hey, I wanna rematch."

Dan simply smirked as he said. "What? Getting your butt kicked by one of us wasn't enough for you?"

"Zip it!" Shuji yelled as he stomped his foot on the ground. "Either we brawl, or I let my first do the talking!"

Lincoln smirked as he looked towards Dan. "Well, I battled him yesterday." Lincoln told the Pyrus user. "Why don't you give it a go."

"Eh, I guess I got some time to kill." Dan with in a slightly joking tone as he walked up to Shuji. Dan then took out his field card with Shuji doing the same.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" Similar to before, both of their cards glowed with Dan's glowing red and Shuji's glowing purple like Lincoln instead of brown like the other day.

Time in the world once again stopped as the Bakugan field opened up for Dan and Shuji. Once the field was open, both players laid out their gate cards before Shuji smirked and held up a Bakugan ball that had a similar color scheme to Lincoln's Bakugan. "Let's go this!" Shuji said before throwing the ball. "Bakugan Brawl!" The Bakugan then rolled and landed in the center of Shuji's gate card and opened up. "Bakugan stand!"

The Bakugan glowed as a giant turtle shell suddenly appeared in front of Dan. It was none other than a Juggernoid. A Darkus Juggernoid.

"What the?" Dan questioned as he looked up at the turtle-like Bakugan. "A Darkus Bakugan? What are you copying Lincoln or something?"

"Don't compare me to that snowman!" Shuji yelled while glaring at Dan. "He only won last time because he got lucky! You want a master of Darkus, then you're looking at him!"

"Yeah, sure." Dan said sarcastically. "If I'm gonna call you anything its gonna be loser."

"Oooo! I've had enough of you ya little creep!" Shuji yelled in annoyance as he started jumping up and down. "Are we gonna do this or what?"

"Yeah sure." Dan said as he took a Bakugan out and tossed it up and down in his hand. "Now what should I counter with? Something big or small? Ah, I got it!" Dan then reared his hand back and prepared to throw. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then threw the Bakugan in his hand over Juggernoid and towards his own gate card where it landed and opened up. "Bakugan Stand!"

The ball opened up and glowed as a Pyrus Saurous was unleased into the battle. Shui gained a tick mark on his hand and looked towards Dan. "Ah you gotta be kidding me. Is that it? Is that all you got?"

"Hey come on, didn't anyone tell ya that size doesn't always matter." Dan responded with in a more confident tone.

"It's your funeral." Shuji said as he held up another Darkus Bakugan. "I'm gonna blow this little twerp away. Bakugan Brawl!" Shuji then threw the Bakugan in his hands at the card Saurous was standing on. "Darkus Stinglash stand!

The Bakugan ball glowed as it was unleashed form its ball form and taking the shape of a giant Scorpion-like creature. Dan gasped as he checked his Baku-Pod. "_Darkus Stinglash stands at 3-3-0 G's. Saurous power level 2-8-0 G's._"

The Stinglash hissed as it tried to stab Saurous with its tail. The Pyrus Bakugan managed to dodge it the first couple times before grabbing the tail and struggling to keep it at bay. "Look like I need a power boost!" Dan said as he watched the two Bakugan brawel. "**Gate Card: Open!**" The gate card then glowed as the field was suddenly lit up with flames.

"_Saurous power boost by 3-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod recorded as it showed Saurous's power increasing to 310 G's. But it wasn't enough. The Stinglash used two of its legs to wrapped around one of Saurous's legs before gabbing the Pyrus Bakugan in the gut and making it revert back to its ball form.

Saurous landed on the ground behind Dan as Stinglash returned to its ball form and returned to Shugi's hand. '_Not good!' _Dan thought as he watched his gate card disappear. _'If I don't find a way for my Bakugan to get over 330 G's my beast are toast.'_

Shuji laughed as he caught Stinglash and looked right at Dan with a cocky look. "Ahahahaha! How's it feel to get your butt kicked nice and proper?"

"This battle ain't over yet Shuji!" Dan with a confident grin.

* * *

Back in the world of Vestroia, Naga was seen flying through the portal that the card he had opened up. Drago was unable to follow him due to the portal closing once he entered. Soon, Naga reached his destination. The Center of Vestoria.

"Yes! I have reached the center of the universe! Amazing!" Naga said as he looked at the only two things present in the area. Two orbs. One was smaller and had a light orange color to it. Almost like a little sun. And the second core was bigger and was colored blue. "There they are! The two conflicting forces. Infinity and silence."

Naga then flew up to the one he referred to as the silent core. "The two forces that keep this world in balance. If I can absorb these two energies', hahahaha, I can unite with Hal-G. And together we will conquer the earth and Vestroia!"

Naga then speared his wings out in front of the orb as the Silent Core's power was transferred to him. "Yes! Feel the power!" Naga yelled as he took in more and more of the silent power. "The power! The infinite power building inside of me!"

However, Naga soon started grunting as the silent core suddenly started to pull him in. "No! Wh-what's happening?" Naga questioned as he tried to escape the silent core's grasp. "The overload of Negative energy, I can't control the balance! It's to much! To much! To much! No! Not enough positive energy! Its out of control! NOOOOOOOOOO!"

And just like that, Naga was completely pulled into the silent core. A burst of energy was released from the Silent core that blew the Infinity core away and threw a portal that had opened up, sending one of Vestroia's core's away from the dimension.

But the silent energy didn't just affect the Infinity core. The burst of energy spread all throughout Vestroia. Through out all six realms, negative energy flooded the zones and effect Bakugan from all over.

In the Pyrus realm, Drago felt the wave on energy hit him and grunted in response. "What…going on?" Drago questions as suddenly the area in front of hi started to come apart. "Naga! This much be Naga's doing!"

However, before Drago could deduce anymore, suddenly the Pyrus area in front of him completely broke apart and a Bakugan that certainly wasn't part of the Pyrus element charged right at Drago. It was none other than a Darkus Fear-Ripper.

Drago was able to dodge Fear-Rippers claws as he looked at the Darkus Bakugan with surprise. "What's a Darkus Bakugan doing in Pyrus space?" Drago dodged as the Fear-Ripper charged at him again but was unable to react a 3rd time as Fear-Ripper grabbed ahold of Drago's shoulder.

* * *

Back in the battle arena with Dan, the wave of energy made to the Dan and Shuji's brawl. Suddenly, the area around Dan changed and the 12-year-old found himself in the Pyrus world. '_Man this is getting weird.'_

Just then Drago, still fighting Fear-Ripper, appeared right in front of Dan. Time seemed to stop as Dan and Drago's eyes suddenly met each other. After what felt like a few moments looking into each other's eyes, Drago went pass Dan while continuing to fend off Fear-Ripper. Dan's mouth was agape as he watched the battle. '_It's like a new dimension that's filling our Bakugan with more power right in the middle of the battlefield. Why does my Bakugan have bigger flames? N seen this before, my Bakugan is getting so much stronger.'_

Suddenly everything changed again, and Dan found himself go through a warp gate similar to the one Naga was going through. Dan let out a scream as everything suddenly start to get brighter and brighter when-

"Huh?" Dan looked around to see the battlefield again. The battle between his Pyrus Serpenoid and Shuji's Darkus Stinglash was still going on. "Woah…" Dan let out as he tried to get his focus back. "That was totally weird."

"Enough fooling around!" Shuji yelled, getting Dan back on track. "Time to end this battle! Darkus Stinglash attack!" However, as Stinglash tried to attack Serpenoid, the snake Bakugan wrapped itself around Stinglash tail and eventually coiled itself completely around the scorpion Bakugan.

"Hey Shuji, what happened to your trash talk?" Dan asked with a smirked as he watched his Bakugan overpower Shuji's. "Scared your scrawny Stinglash can't handle the pressure?"

Dan then held his hand out as the Pyrus user yelled. "**Command Card: Quartet Battle Activate!**" The gate card then started glowing as Dan commanded it to open. "Watch out Shuji, because a few more Bakugan have been invited to the party!"

However, suddenly the ability card in Dan and Shuji's hand started glowing like a rainbow upon the gate cards activation. Both boys had a look of shock on their faces as they witnessed this. "My…ability card is…transforming." Dan said as suddenly a ball emerged from both Dan and Shuji's card and automatically launched themselves towards the card Serpenoid and Stinglash were on.

When the balls landed on the card, both ability cards finished transforming with Dan looking over his closely. "Woah? Isn't this a Dragonoid's card?" Dan asked himself as both Bakugan that emerged from Dan and Shugi's cards stood.

Dan and Shuji then watched as the Bakugan that emerged were none other then the Darkus Fear-Ripper and Drago still continuing their battle. "Woah! Those are the same beast I saw in my vision!" Dan gasped as the two Bakugan struggled to overpower each other.

"You must come to your senses!"

"Huh?" Dan let out as he heard an unfamiliar voice. He looked around to see who could have said that, but other than Shuji no one was there but him. "What the? Who said that?"

However, Dan then looked up at the Dragonoid Bakugan and gasp as realization hit him. "Was it…was it you?"

"Fear-Ripper! You have to snap out of it!" Drago yelled to the Darkus Bakugan. "The negative energy from the silent core has taken over your power of reason."

Beads of sweat went down Dan's head as he swore, he heard the Bakugan talk. "My ear…aren't playing tricks on me, are they?" Dan asked himself as no one has ever heard of a talking Bakugan before.

Fear-Ripper eyes glowed brightly as Drago's eyes widened in response. "His power is…building." The Pyrus Bakugan said as he kicked Fear-Ripper in the stomach to get the Darkus Bakugan off him. Drago then roared as he opened his mouth wide and charged a fireball in it. "**Boosted Dragon!**"

Drago then fired a large fireball at Fear-Ripper who could do nothing as the projectile came closer and closer. When it connected a large explosion occurred that covered the entire battlefield.

Time started again as the Bakugan field closed. Shugi was seen sitting on his butt with his three Bakugan on the ground in front of him. "Woah what happened?" Akira asked as he stepped forward.

"I lost again." Shuji shamefully admitting before whimpering a bit.

"Hey, way to go Dan." Lincoln complimented his friend as he stepped up to the Preyus user. However, Lincoln saw that Dan didn't move and instead looked at a Bakugan ball in his hand. "Dan…you ok man?"

Dan stood silent for a minute before looking back to Lincoln and saying…

"Lincoln…my Bakugan talked."

* * *

_**DANS HOUSE**_

At night, Dan was seen alone in his room holding the Bakugan Ball of Drago. "Ok if you're in there talk to me." Dan said to the ball as it remained closed and silent. "I want to get to the bottom of this."

"…"

"Aw man this is totally pointless." Dan groaned as Drago refused to let any sort of sound out. It's just a game piece…but I heard it. I thought I heard it talking." Dan then started to light poke, shake, and hold Drago up to his ear. "Didn't I?"

Dan then looked at the ball again with a raised brow. "Aw man, I am losing my mind." Dan told himself as he held the ball to his ear again. "But I'm sure…I heard it."

"…"

"Ah, no biggie." Dan said in a more relaxed tone as he leaned back in his bed and looked at the Pyrus Bakugan with a smile. "But, seeing as how you're a Dragonoid I'm gonna call you Drago. Sweet, that's your new name buddy. Hope you like it."

Dan then set Drago down on his windowsill next to his bed alongside a few anime figures he had. "Man, for a minute there I actually thought it talked. I gotta lay off the sodas." Dan then stood up from his bed and walked towards his computer. "Well, time to hook up on the web. Good night Drago."

Dan then got onto the chat room where Alice, Runo, Julie, Marucho, and Lincoln were already waiting. And on Dan's end, he could see that Lincoln had a Darkus symbol in the corner of his chat box. "Dan you're there." Marucho greeted the Pyrus user with a smile.

"So, gonna tell them the big news Dan?" Lincoln asked with a raise eyebrow as he knew what Dan was probably gonna tell everyone since Dan told him earlier after his battle with Shuji.

"Yeah!" Dan confirmed with a nod. "So, I was battling this dude named Shuji when I thought I heard my Bakugan talk.

"No way, you to?" Runo asked with a surprised tone.

"Wait, what?" Lincoln asked with confusion.

"Yeah what do you mean Runo?" Dan asked with a confused expression also on his face. "You saying someone else heard them to?"

"You should log on to the Bakugan website." Julie told her crush with a raised finger. "It's what everyones talking about Dan.

Dan nodded and quickly did what Julie said an opened up the website. And just as he did, he was swarmed with article after article of people all over the world. Dan gasped in response at seeing all these stories. '_It DID talk!' _Dan mentally yelled.

'_Maybe the Bakugan world has more to it then we thought!'_

* * *

_**I had so much freaking fun with this! The nostalgia is big on this one and getting to write these battles are gonna be a blast. Trust me, there's a lot more to come in the future and I hope you'll all stick around! So remember to Fav, Follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter...**_

_**"Masquerade Ball"**_


	3. Masquerade Ball

_**I'm on a roll! And I don't plan on slowing down baby! This is Bakugan and I'm having way to much freaking fun writing this fic then one guy should! So go on and read this dang thing because its only getting started!**_

* * *

"Ugh! This is so unfair! How come Dan's stupid Bakugan ball talks and you don't?" Currently walking through what looked like a playground was none other then Runo. She currently had a Haos Bakugan in her head and was desperately trying to make it talk. Currently she tried poking the ball while speaking to it. "Come on. If you're inside there at least say something. Pretty please with sugar?" Runo poked the ball some more only to get even more silence in response. "Say something!"

Just then, a powerful gust of wind blew past Runo making the bluenette freeze for a moment. This…this didn't feel like normal wind for some reason. This wind…it left a chill up her spine and gave her the feeling someone was watching her. Someone who certainly wouldn't be a friendly face.

So, turning around, she saw someone that certainly wasn't there a second ago. It appeared to be a male that wore a white cape-like coat that was only buttoned around the straps on the chest with a blue shirt under that. He had a belt that wrapped around him multiple times and had a circular belt buckle. He had purple pants and black boots with small heels at the bottom. He had blond hair that was styled upwards and finally, he wore a visor mask that covered a majority of his face that was colored purple and blue.

Runo gasped when she saw the stranger pull out a field card. "A Battle Brawler…" Runo quietly said before glaring at the masked man. "Are you challenging me to a battle? Because if you are then let's get this party started." Runo then pulled out her own field card and raised it up to her face. "Never got your name."

"I never said it." The masked stranger finally talked. If you listened closely, it seemed his voice had a faint echo to it. "Call me _Masquerade._"

The two then opened the field with Runo's card glowing yellow and Masquerade's glowing purple. The battle between the Haos user Runo and the mysterious man Masquerade had begun.

* * *

_**THE LOUD HOUSE**_

Currently, Lori Loud was twirling the keys to Vanzilla with her pointer finger while leaning next to the door that lead to out the house. "Alright guys! Hope you finished eating because its time to go!" Lori then quickly opened the door and stepped aside after she said so that way, she wouldn't get run over by her stampeded of siblings that quickly rushed past her and out the door.

The only exception to this was Lincoln who simply walked to the door instead of joining his other sisters rushing out the door to get into the family van as soon as possible. As Lincoln walked out the door, he took some time to stop and smile at his oldest sister.

Lori in turn smiled back to Lincoln and gestured out the door. "You first." Lori offered rather kindly.

"Thanks Lori," Lincoln said as he walked out the door with Lori quickly following and walked next to her little brother. Once the two started walking towards Vanzilla, Lincoln decided to bring up the latest online trend. "So, Lori…have you heard the news recently."

Lori's eyes widened as she turned to her brother and looked him in the eye. "You mean about the Bakugan talking?" Lori asked to make sure she and Lincoln were thinking the same thing. "Yeah! I don't think there's literally anyone who hasn't yet…wait…have you're Bakugan started talking?!"

Lincoln sighed in response and shook his head as he reached for his Bakugan hold on his best and took out his Darkus Monarus and held up to him and Lori. "No, not a single word out of any of my guys. Dan was the lucky one and got a talking Dragonoid Bakugan."

"You two have to show me sometime." Lori said as she and Lincoln separated in other to enter Vanzilla at different side. Lori got into the driver's seat, being the only Loud child with a driver's license, while Lincoln sat next to her in the passengers side. "This is literally the biggest thing to happen to the game since…well…the game was created."

"You dudes talking about the talking Bakugan?" The 15-year-old sister, Luna Loud, asked as she rose up her head to look at the two siblings in the front.

"Yeah, its crazy huh?" Lincoln responded while looking back at his sister.

"Indeed. But this could lead to a scientific breakthrough." The four-year-old sister, Lisa Loud, explained as she looked over the Ventus Bakugan in her hand with great detail. "Its possible these creatures possess a higher level of intelligence then simply being just game pieces. I must study this at once."

"Well good luck." One of the six-year-old sisters, Lana Loud, said as she held an Aquos Bakugan in her hand. "I've been trying all morning to get a peep out this guy and nothing!" Lana then started to lightly shake the Bakugan in her hand. "Come on, just one little word? Pleeeeeease."

"Just give it up Lana." Lana's twin sister, Lola Loud, said as she tossed a Pyrus Bakugan up and down in her hand. "It was probably just a false rumor that spread. Trust me, if there's anyone who knows a thing about spreading false rumors, its me."

"I don't know dude." Luna said as she looked at the Subterra Bakugan in her hand. "If it was just a few people I'd believe you, but the entire web is talking about this."

"Yes. It's possible these creatures have more to them then simply battling." The 8-year old, Lucy Loud, said quietly while holding a Darkus Bakugan in both her hand. "However, I can't seem to connect with any of there spirits. So, I suppose it could go either way."

"Well, I'm sure if they'd start talking, they'd be a real _ball_!" The 14-year-old, Luan Loud, punned causing the rest of her siblings to groan in response. Even the Aquos Bakugan in her hand very lightly twitched in response, though it went unnoticed. "Hahahaha! Get it?"

"Well, like, I think it would be totes cool if they talked!" The 16-year-old, Leni Loud, said as she held a Haos Bakugan close to her face. "I could ask their opinions on what I should wear for the day. Ooooo! Maybe I can make tiny little ball sized clothing for them!"

"Goo-Goo!" The youngest Loud sibling, the 15-month-old Lily Loud, said with a smile.

"Yes, thanks for the input Lily." Lori said with a smile and an eyeroll. "Well, you never know. Who knows what could happen in the future." Lori then averted her gaze over to the Ventus Bakugan attached to her belt. "All I know is that I'm aiming for the top spot. You better watch out Shun."

"Pah-lease!" the 13-year-old, Lynn Loud Jr, said in a confident and cocky to while leaning against the seat while tossing a Subterra Bakugan up and down in her hand. "If anyone is gonna become the new best in the world. Its gonna be me!"

"Actually Lynn…" Lincoln said while checking his Bakupod. "You're only ranked 157. Dan's rank 117 and I'm 115 while Lori is ranked 81."

"Oooooooo!" All the other siblings said as Lynn held the Bakugan in her hand in a tight group before looking to the siblings in the front seats.

"Hmph, well enjoy the top spots while you can, because I'm gonna shoot up in the rankings. Just you watch." Lynn told Lincoln and Lori in a _very _challenging tone.

"Yeah, I'm literally shaking in my boots right now." Lori said sarcastically with an eye roll while Lincoln chuckled in response. Just then the 17-year-old pulled up the local elementary school and parked the van. "Alright, Lincoln, see ya later."

"Later Lori, I'll get a picture of Drago for you." Lincoln said as he exited the van along with Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa. He already had a sneaking suspicion of what Dan would be doing in the classroom right now.

* * *

"Let me see Dan!"

"That's so cool!"

"Did it really talk!?"

Lincoln entered to classroom only to see every single student crowded around Dan's desk and asking to see something. "Somebody better pick up the phone because I freaking called it." Lincoln said to himself with a smirk as he approached the crowd of kids.

The one kid in particular he approached was a kind with a African-American kid with a black afro of hair, a blue and yellow striped shirt and glasses. "Hey Clyde, what's up?" Lincoln asked as the boy he approached turned to face him.

"Hey Linc! Have you heard the news?" Clyde asked his best friend with an excited smile on his face. "Dan has an actual talking Bakugan!"

"Yeah, I know." Lincoln answered casually, taking Clyde aback a bit. "I was there when Dan got it. I didn't actually hear it talk but I did see the Bakugan and he told me everything that went down."

"Well how come you guys didn't invite me to hang out?" Clyde asked as he put his hands to his hips. "I would have liked to see this happen."

"…Didn't you have a dentist appointment." Lincoln asked as he remembered Clyde telling him that he couldn't hang out for the last few days due to going to the dentist. Even though a trip to the dentist only last a day, Clyde's dads don't like to take chances and make sure Clyde rest a few days while eating soft foods and brushing and flossing four and two times a day respectively.

"Oh yeah right. I forgot." Clyde admitted sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

"Alright everyone!" They heard Dan's voice say as they looked back to the Pyrus user's desk and saw Dan holding up Drago's ball. "Feast your eyes on the one and only Drago!"

"Wow, does that little varmint actually talk?" One of the kids, the farmer named Liam, asked while pointing to the Pyrus Bakugan.

"Make it say something!" Lincoln and Clyde's friend Rusty said with an excited smile.

"Aw man I'm so jealous!" The student the kids call Girl-Jordan, in order to separate her from Boy-Jordan, said as she looked at Drago with pumped up fist. "Mine hasn't said one word."

"Come on Dan make it talk!" Another friend of Lincoln and Clyde's, the boy named Zach, said before putting his hands to his hips. "Unless you just made the whole thing up."

"Hey, I'm no liar!" Dan yelled back at Zach.

"Come on Dan show us!"

"I wanna hear what it sounds like!"

"Hurry up Dan."

"Alright, alright I'll show ya guys." Dan said in order to appease everyone. The Pyrus user then looked at Drago's ball and spoke to him. "Alright Drago its show time." Dan then reared his hand back as if he was about to throw the ball. "Alright…Bakugan Stand!" Dan shot his hand forward and commanded Drago to come out from his ball…only to see no results.

Everyone sweat dropped in response as Drago not giving any sort of results. "Uuuum…maybe its busted?" A female student and another friend of Lincoln and Clydes, her name being Stella, said in response.

"What? Come on Drago say something?" Dan said to the Pyrus Bakugan as he brought Drago up to his face again. "Bakugan Stand!" Dan tried the same thing again only to get the same results of Drago not moving an inch. "Bakugan Stand! Stand! Stand! Stand! Stand!"

Everyone watched the scene awkwardly as they started backing away from Dan. Dan himself put on a bit of an embarrassed look as he brought Drago up to his face again. "Come on, you're embarrassing me Drago."

"Uh, Dan, forget Drago." Lincoln said as he and Clyde walked up to his friend. "What about you're homework? You _did _remember to do it right?"

"Yeah, if you didn't then Mrs. Johnson is gonna get real mad at you." Girl-Jordan stated as she crossed her arms at Dan.

"Uh-oh…" Dan gasped out as he held his head with his hands as he quickly started to panic. "I forgot! Ah man what am I gonna do!?" Dan then scanned around the room as his mind raced for an idea. Just then his eyes locked onto Clyde as the Pyrus user suddenly grabbed his shoulders. "Clyde! You always do your homework twice just in case you lose one copy right? You gotta let me have one of the copies, please I'll day anything!"

"O-Ok Dan." Clyde said as he reached into his backpack. "But you owe me one."

"I promise I'll pay you back in anyway I can." Dan said as he gave Clyde a grateful smile. "You know I always keep my word on this kinda stuff."

As the exchanged was happening, Drago watched it all happened as he started talking to himself. "Ha, what a pathetic human. If he thinks I'm here for his personal amusement, then he couldn't be more wrong." Drago said to himself as he watched Clyde hand some papers to Dan. "I have a much more important mission. Preventing Vestroia's desctruction."

Lincoln's ears perked up as Drago talked, trying to make out the sound. While everyone else in class was distracted, Lincoln looked around to try and find the source of the noise. But soon his eyes fell on Drago as the Pyrus Bakugan attempted to move around. "Ugh…to… much resistance." Drago grunted as he struggled to move around in his spherical form. After a bit of struggling, Dragon finally started to move around a bit. "Yes! Yes! Must summon strength!" Drago then started rolling on Dan's desk. However, the Pyrus Bakugan started rolling to far and started to fall off Dan's desk. "No wait! Stop! Gonna! Fall Off! AAAAA-"

But right as Drago fell off the desk, a hand came up and caught him. But it wasn't Dan, it was Lincoln that caught Drago. "Well, that was a close one huh?" Lincoln said as he brought Drago to his face. He made sure to whisper as to not get the attention of his classmates and friends. "You ok?"

"…"

Lincoln sighed as Drago gave him the silent treatment as well. "Ok look…I know you can talk. But I'm not gonna treat you like some mindless item." Lincoln quietly told the Bakugan. "I'm sorry about Dan ok he just loves Bakugan and is easily excited. And I'll admit I'm kinda going a little crazy about this to but I'll try to keep a level head. So, look, if you need anything like help or something, just feel free to ask me ok."

"…"

Lincoln sighed in response as he set Drago back on Dan's desk. "Just…think about it. K." Lincoln told Drago kindly before started to go to his own desk when-

"I…appreciate the offer. Human." Lincoln stopped walking as his eyes widened and he looked back to see that Drago…was _talking _to him. "But my mission doesn't concern you or that other human. But…thanks for catching me."

Lincoln mentally squealed in amazement that the Bakugan actually _talked _to him. Talking Bakugan existed! He couldn't believe it! This was awesome! _But!_ Keeping his word to Drago, Lincoln took a deep breath to calm himself and simply gave a strong nod.

"Attention class!" Just then the door to the classroom opened and everyone saw a woman wearing a green sweater with red hair done up in a pun that was held in place by a pencil coming into the room. This was their teacher Mrs. Johnson. "Now look, I understand you're all excited to share what you did yesterday but that will have to wait for recess. When the bell rings I expect you all in your seats."

"Yes Mrs. Johnson." All the students said in unison as they went to their desk.

Later in the day, Mrs. Johnson was teaching math with the students having their math books out. Drago was currently sitting inside of Dan's desk with the Pyrus's users' other books and school supplies. As Dan was reading his textbook, Drago started talking to himself. "Somehow I must find a way to move around in this world. But I have to hurry because Vestroia is in danger. Naga is behind its destruction and I MUST stop him. But first I must find him."

Once Drago finished talking, Dan suddenly grabbed Drago, muffling the Pyrus Bakugan, and started scrubbing him with a toothbrush. "Here you go buddy." Dan said as he scrubbed Drago down. "Your looking a bit dirty there. Ah well, nothing a good brushing can't help."

"Ah! Ow! Cease this at once! That tickles!" Drago tried to say but the scrubbing was muffling him a bit.

"I bet you wish I could do this all day." Dan said as he continued to scrub the Pyrus Bakugan. "And you know, if you just talk to me maybe I might."

But just then, Drago finally opened up from his ball form and jumped out of Dan's hand. "Cease your scrubbing human!" Drago demanded as Dan jumped back in his seat a bit. "I am not your toy! At least your white haired human friend was able to see that!"

"Wait, you talked to Lincoln?" Dan asked immediately after. However, realization quickly came upon Dan as Drago's mentioning of Lincoln wasn't what he should be concerned about. What he should be focused on is that Drago _can _talk! "I knew you could talk I knew it!"

"Dan! Quiet!" Dan looked to see Lincoln looking at him and speaking through clenched teeth while gesturing his head to the front of the classroom.

Dan looked to the front of the class and flinched when he saw Mrs. Johnson giving him a stern look. "Daniel, is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?" The teacher asked in a firm tone.

"Uuuuuh, well…" Dan began as he looked to Drago, who had gone back to a ball, and Lincoln, who was rapidly shaking his head. "Well…no. Sorry Mrs. Johnson. It won't happen again."

"I would hope not. Other wise its detention young man." Mrs. Johnson warned the Pyrus user, who flinched violently and rapidly nodded his head in response. Mrs. Johnson gave a firm nodded before turning to the chalk aboard again and continuing her lesson.

* * *

Once the school day was over, Lincoln was seen in his room sitting on his bed with his laptop on his lap. He'd kept his promise to Lori and showed her a picture he took of Drago at school during lunch. He also learned from Lori that the talking Bakugan was also the only topic people at high school were talking about. All through out lunch time people were showing off their Bakugan and trying to get them to talk but not a single one succeeding.

"Well, time to see what's up with everyone." Lincoln told himself before turning on his computer and logging onto the chat room his friends set up. Once online he already saw that Runo, Dan, Julie, Marucho, and Alice were logged in. "Hey guys whats-"

"About time you got here man!" Dan suddenly yelled causing Lincoln to flinch. "What took you so long?!"

"Geez, sorry dude." Lincoln said with irritation in his voice. "I was helping the twins out with ANOTHER argument. Where's the fire?"

"I'll tell you what the fire is!" Runo yelled with a furious expression. However, her anger soon turned into sadness as she lowered her head. "My precious little Terrorclaw is gone forever."

Lincoln rose a concerned eyebrow in response as he looked at Runo. "What…what do you mean Runo?" Lincoln asked in calm confusion before his eyes widened as something came to his mind about what might happened. "Did someone steal you're Bakugan."

"It's worse than you think." Alice explained in a gentle and sympathetic tone.

"You mean you haven't heard?" Marucho asked the Loud boy.

"Heard what?" Lincoln was growing more confused as this went on. But a feeling in his gut told him it was anything but good. "Stop being vague guys what's going on?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what's going on! Some creep is taking other guys Bakugan and somehow reached the top spot!" Dan yelled as Lincoln's eyes widened as much as possible. "Check it out!"

"No, no, that's not possible." Lincoln said in denial while shaking his head and checking the ranking. "Shun's number one, there's no way this guy is…holy shamoly…"

Lincoln froze as he looked at the number one ranked Bakugan player in the world.

Masquerade.

"He's been winning battles all over the world." Marucho explained with a frown. "And everyone who's faced him has told stories of their Bakugan being sucked into a purple portal and never returning."

"It's all over the Bakugan website." Julie explained as she rose up a finger. "This creep has been stealing Bakugan left and right around the globe!"

"Yeah…" Runo nodded with a sad frown. "He took 3 of my Bakugan away."

"This isn't right!" Lincoln yelled as he got onto his knees and raised himself up. "Someone needs to put this guy in his place. He can't get away from stealing other people's Bakugan!"

"I'm right with ya man!" Dan said as he stood up from his chair and pumped up his fist. "I'm gonna go challenge that poser right now?!"

"But how Dan?" Alice asked in a concerned tone. "Nobody knows where he is. He just shows up out of nowhere. And are you sure you can take him on? He's the new number on and…I don't want you to lose you Bakugan to."

"Hey! What are you saying Alice!?" Julie suddenly yelled at the ginger-haired girl. "Are you saying Dan can't beat him?!"

"Wh-What n-no I'm…I'm not saying that." Alice shyly said as her cheeks turned a light shade of red causing the 14-year-old to hide her face behind her hair. "I-I'm just worried i-is all. And…I don't want Dan to lose his Bakugan."

"Hey, c'mon Alice you know me." Dan said as he gave the ginger-haired girl a confident smile and thumbs up. "There's no way I'll lose! And with Linc as my back up, it'll be a piece of cake!"

"…I walked into that one, didn't I?" Lincoln asked with a deadpanned looked with Dan giving the white head a smirk and Marucho sweat dropping and nodding his head.

"Now if you excuse me, I gotta make a video to send to that masked freak." Dan said as he gave everyone a serious look. "Lincoln, you better be ready for a brawl tomorrow."

"Aye, aye, sir." Lincoln said with a salute before Dan logged off. Lincoln then looked at the four remaining in the chat room and told them. "I better tell my sister about this! I'll see you guys later." Not even giving them a chance to say goodbye, Lincoln closed his laptop and quickly jumped up his bed and ran out of his room.

Heading quickly over to Lori's and Leni's room, Lincoln quickly came into the room without knocking. Inside he saw Lori reading a fashion magazine. Leni didn't seem to be in the room, which was a good thing since he just wanted to tell Lori about this.

Lori was startled by Lincoln suddenly coming into her room and threw her magazine into the air and causing it to land on the floor. "Lincoln!" Lori yelled at her little brother as she turned her head to him. "You know I don't mind you coming in here anymore, but you should still knock. What if I was changing!"

"I'm sorry Lori but this is an emergency!" Lincoln quickly said as he quickly grabbed Lori's laptop off her dresser and handed it to his oldest sister. "Log on to the Bakugan website and go to the top of the leaderboard."

"Um, ok?" Lori said in a confused tone as she opened her laptop up. She wasn't sure what her brother was freaking out about. Opening up the website and going to rankings, she started scrolling to the top. What did he want to show her? That Shun somehow got even HIGHER then number one? If that wasn't it then what was so-

"_Masquerade: Ranked number one in the world._" The computer said as it showed Masquerade in the top spot of the leaderboard with Shun dropping to number 2.

"…Holy shit…" Lori said as she entered a state of shock. Shun…wasn't number one. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!

"That's not even the half of it." Lincoln explained as he opened the forums of the website to show the topic people have been talking about other then the talking Bakugan. "Look at what's he's been doing."

Lori quickly did what her brother told and looked over all the stories involving Masquerade. All the stories were perfectly accurate to what the brawlers told Dan. Masquerade appearing all over the world. Easily winning every battle he was in. And all his opponents Bakugan disappearing and never returning. "Ok, this is literally the freakiest thing I've ever seen." Lori said while still in shock as she read every article about Masquerade that popped up.

"Yeah, I don't know how EITHER of us didn't find out about this until now." Lincoln said in surprise as, until today, he's never even heard of Maskquerade. Yesterday Shun was ranked number one and now this happened! "Dan said he's gonna challenge him…and he's dragging me into it as well."

…

Lori was silent for a moment before Lincoln flinched as she audibly closed her laptop and stood up and looked at Lincoln with a serious look. "I'm going with you guys."

Lincoln's eyes widened as he looked Lori in the eye and let out a, "What?"

"You heard me." Lori said as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Lincoln. "I'm not gonna let my little brother face off against some creep who's literally been making people's Bakugan disappeared without me. Even with Dan you guys need all the help you can get."

Lincoln looked down at the floor for a moment in thought before giving his big sister a smile. "Thanks Lori, I really appreciate it." Lincoln said gratefully while Lori ruffled his snow-white hair in response.

"Anytime little bro." Lori responded in a gentle tone. "Now, you better get some sleep. We're gonna need to be at our A-Game if we're gonna fight this guy."

Lincoln nodded in agreement. She was right, if this Masquerade guy was even half as tough and good as a brawler as the internet said he was, then they were gonna need all the help they could get.

* * *

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

Dan tapped his foot impatiently against the floor of Vanzilla. Currently he, Lincoln, and Lori were driving to the meeting place Dan set up for his and Masquerade's battle. "Ugh! Can't we go any faster?!" Dan yelled as he couldn't handle the speed they were going at.

"We can but we're not going to." Lori told him firmly as she looked at Dan through the van's mirror. "If we get a ticket then I will literally make you pay for it."

"Just relax Dan." Lincoln told the Pyrus user as he leaned back in his seat and looked out the window. "We'll get there."

"I just don't wanna be late ok." Dan said with a huff as he crossed his arms. "If we don't show up on time that Masquerade dude is gonna think we're chumps."

Lori simply sighed in response as she lept driving. She wouldn't lie, she felt pretty anxious about all this. They were meeting this random guy who suddenly reached the top ranking among all Bakugan players in the world. This meant he had to be extremely good. And if the stories about people losing their Bakugan were true…then she would admit to being scared.

After about 10 minutes of driving, they finally reached the area where Dan had told Masquerade to meet him at. Lori parked the van at a proper parking space and Dan was quick to bolt out of the van and run towards the meeting location. "Dan! Wait up!" Lincoln yelled as he and Lori ran after the Pyrus user.

The place they entered was a location under a railroad bridge. It was dark and hidden from most people. The perfect place for a secret meet up. And what they saw there…

"You're here?" Lincoln and Dan said in unison as who they saw wasn't Masquerade. It was Shuji.

Shuji laughed as they group of 3 approaching him with Akira making himself present as well. "We've been waiting for ya." The boy said to the 3 that faced him and his brother.

"It's a shame your buddy Masquerade couldn't show up." Shuji said with a cocky grin as both Lincoln and Dan fell down comedically while Lori just raised an eyebrow.

"Uuuh, who is this?" Lori asked as that certainly wasn't the one they were supposed to be meeting here.

Lincoln simply sighed as he said. "Just summon who's a glutton for punishment."

"Yeah, could you two just get outta here." Dan groaned out while making a shoeing motion with his hand. "We have someone actually worth our time to wait for."

"You two owe me!" Shuji said to both Lincoln and Dan. "I demand a rematch! So pull out your cards and let's get this battle underway!"

"So wait, both of you literally fought him before?" Lori asked as she watched Shuji pull out his field card. Both Lincoln and Dan nodded and sighed as they both pulled out a field card as well. However, they were stopped as Lori walked in front of them and pulled out her own field card. "Then let me have a round with him!"

"Huh?" Shuji, Dan, Lincoln, and Akira said in unison to Lori's challenge.

"Well, I need a little warm-up before Masquerade arrives." Lori explained as she got into a brawling position. "Why don't you two watch while I take on this guy. Unless he's scared of losing to a girl."

Shuji's face went red with anger at this as he stomped on the ground. "Oh that is it! Alright chick challenged accepted! Just don't go running away crying when I kick you ass!"

Lori and Shuji then raised up their field cards. "**Bakugan Field Open!**" Both Lori and Shuji's cards glowed green as the Bakugan field started opening. Lincoln and Dan stood in close proximity to Lori so that when the field opened, they were dragged along with it, just not as actual players participating.

When the field completely opened, both Shuji and Lori grabbed their gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Both threw down their gate cards opposite of each other like how all 1v1 battles start.

Once this happened, Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out Drago and held him in his open palm. "Here Drago, you should watch." The Pyrus user said to the Pyrus Bakugan as Drago did at least turn to face the battle.

"Alright, time to get this started!" Lori yelled as she pulled out another gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Lori then threw the card right next to her original gate card where it expanded. The 17-year-old then took out a Ventus Bakugan from the Bakugan holder on her belt. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then threw the Bakugan at Shuji's gate card where it landed in the middle and opened up. "Ventus Siege stand!"

The Bakugan glowed green as it was unleashed into the field. Standing on Shuji's gate card was a creature resembling a knight in green armor holding a long double-bladed halberd.

"Interesting." Suddenly, surprising both Dan and Lincoln, Drago popped out of his ball form and looked at the battle. "So, when you humans unleash us on this battlefield our true forms can be released."

"Ah, finally taking some interest in this huh Drago?" Dan asked with a smirk with his arms crossed.

"Here, let me show you." Lincoln told the Pyrus Bakugan as he activated his Bakupod. He then put the device in front of Drago as it showed a simplified version of the battlefield as well as pictures of Lori and Shuji. "See, the rules are each player has three Bakugan they can use. The goal is to defeat all your opponent's Bakugan by raising your own Bakugan to a higher G power. And of course, there's ability cards and gate cards to change up the battle and give yourself an edge."

"So, this really is just a game to you humans." Drago said after taking in all of Lincoln's words.

"Huh?" Lincoln let out while Dan simply sighed and shook his head.

"Nevermind, let's just watch. I'm rather curious to see how this goes on." Drago said as he was more interested in observing how humans think and treat Bakugan then in the game itself.

"Ha! Is that all you can do?" Shuji said in a cocky tone as he grabbed his own Ventus Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Shugi then threw the ball at his own gate card where is opponent's Bakugan was. "Ventus Robotallion stand!" The Bakugan then popped open as now a giant robot-like creature was now confronting the Lori's Siege.

"Now let's see how you handle this!" Shuji yelled as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card open!**" Shuji's gate card then glowed as Robotallion glowed with a powerful green aura. "Take em down Robotallion!" Robotallion then started to charge at Siege shoulder first like a football player when-

"**Ability Card Activate!**" Lori said as she held up an ability card and proceeded to throw it towards the battlefield. "**Blow away!**"

A green tornado then surrounded Shuji's Robotallion and pushed the Ventus Bakugan up into the air where it proceeded to land on Lori's 2nd gate card. "Hey what was that for?!" Shuji yelled with a tick mark on his head. "Afraid to fight like a man?!"

"Nope, just playing the game." Lori said confidently as she took out another Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then threw the Bakugan towards her first gate card. "Ventis Mantris Stand!" The Bakugan then popped open as a Ventis attributed Mantris entered the battle.

"Let's see you get outta this one!" Shuji yelled as he prepared to throw another Ventus Bakugan of his own. "Bakugan Brawl!" Shuji then threw the Bakugan at the card Lori's Mantris was on and the ball opened up when it landed on the card. "Ventus Gargonoid stand!"

The Bakugan glowed as, emerging onto the battlefield, was a gargoyle like creature with long horns. The Gargonoid roared as it flew up high above the Mantris. "Heh, this will literally be easy. " Lori said as she took out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Marionette!**"

Mantris's eyes glowed brightly as strings suddenly strings came out of the Mantis Bakugan's arms and wrapped themselves around Gargonoid. "Marionette is an ability exclusive to Mantris." Lori explained as Gargonoid was pushed over to the card Shuji's robotallion was on. "It allows me to take a Bakugan and move it to any card on the battlefield."

Gargonoid was then forced onto the card Robotallion was on. "Oh big deal! Running away from fights like a coward!" Shuji yelled before giving a smirk. "It just means you're gonna have twice the trouble when you eventually have to fight them on that one card."

"Actually, this'll literally be over in a second." Lori said before holding her hand out and snapping her fingers. "**Gate Card Open: Mine Ghost!**" Suddenly the card Robotallion and Gargonoid were on glowed when-

_BOOM!_

The card then exploded as the two Ventus's Bakugan came flying out of the smoke, once again as balls, and landed on Shuji's feet. Both defeated. "Hey! What just happened?!" Shuji yelled in confusion at both of his Bakugan being taken out at once.

"Let me explain to you easily." Lori said with a victorious smirk on her face. "Regardless if their friend or foe, when two Bakugan are on the Mind Ghost gate card, they are both defeated."

"That's how Lori likes to playthings." Lincoln explained to both Dan and Drago. "She likes to keep her opponents confident before striking and taking them down quickly."

"Wow, never seen that kinda strategy before." Dan said in an impressed tone. "I didn't even suspect her to use a mine ghost card."

"She's got a good head on her shoulders. I'll give her that." Drago admitted as he had to give credit where credit was good. It was a good strategy in the long run. "But still. I can feel the negative energy that drives some of these Bakugan."

"Negative energy?" Dan asked with a confused tone.

"What are you talking about Drago?" Lincoln asked right after Dan. However, Drago didn't give a response.

Shuji growled in response as he took his last Bakugan into his hand. "Well it ain't over until the pleasantly plump lady sings!" Shuji yelled before rearing his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Shuji then threw the Bakugan at the gate card Mantris was on. "Ventus Falconer stand!" The Bakugan then opened up and a giant bipedal bird-like creature came into the battle.

"**Ability Card Activate: Storm Wings!**" Shuji activated the ability causing Falconer's wings to be surrounded by black clouds as they glowed a powerful green. Falconer then proceeded to divebomb at Lori's Mantris.

"Good. But not good enough." Lori said as she rose her hand up in the air. "**Gate Card Open: Character!**" Lori's gate card then glowed as a picture of Mantris appeared on it as the Ventus Mantris glowed a bright green.

Right as Falconer came down, Mantris caught the flying Bakugan in its arms and proceeded to slam it down into the ground. The Mantis Bakugan then jumped up into the air and landed on top of Falconer. A cloud of dust was created as Falconeer glowed green and turned back into a ball, sealing Lori's victory.

The field closed as Lori caught both of her Bakugan in her hand. "Well that was literally easy." The eldest Loud child said with a victorious grin on her face.

"You gotta be kidding me! How do I keep losing?!" Shuji yelled as he collected his Bakugan off the ground.

"Aw man, look at what happened to ya." Akira said as he shook his head. "I tried to warn you but nooooo. Mr. Big Shot here wouldn't listen and now look what happened to ya."

"Can is Akira!" Shuji yelled as he ran past his little brother. "I'm going home to mommy!"

"Hey!" Akira yelled as Shuji started running away crying. The boy then turned to the group of 3 humans and one Bakugan and waved to them. "Catch ya guys later!"

They then watched as Akira ran after his brother. Once he was gone, Lincoln turned to Lori and said to his oldest sister. "Way to show him what you're made of Lori."

"Heh, thanks little bro." Lori said as she tossed her Bakugan up and down in her hand. "Just showing him what it takes to be in the top 100."

"Well Drago was currently impressed, right buddy." Dan said as he looked to his open hand. However, a look of annoyance came across Dan's face as he saw Drago closed up again.

"So that's the famous talking Dragonoid?" Lori asked as she got a closer look at the Pyrus Bakugan.

"Well yeah but it looks like he's giving us the old silent treatment again." Dan said with a huff. "Well to bad Drago because I'm not falling for i-"

However, a sudden breeze came from an entrance into the area they were in causing Dan to cut himself off. A chill ran past everyone's spin as they all looked to the door.

"_I'm looking for Dan Kuso."_

Lincoln, Dan, and Lori gasped as they heard footsteps coming from the doorway. "Are you…Masquerade?" Dan questioned as they footsteps got closer.

Just then a figure emerged from the shadows. It was none other…then Masquerade. "So…you brought back up." Masquerade said in a calm yet confident tone as he took a moment to look over Lincoln and Lori.

"So, you are the creep that's been taking everyone's Bakugan!" Lincoln yelled as he glared at the masked brawler. Masquerade simply gave a small grin in response.

"Alright listen up." Lori growled as she planted her feet firmly on the ground. "You had better give everyone's Bakugan back or I will literally turn you into a human pretzel!"

"Heh, never heard that one before." Masquerade stated as he looked towards Lori. "I like you."

"Ok, ew." Lori said in a grossed-out tone.

"Alright enough small talk!" Dan yelled as he pulled his field card out. "Its time to brawl Masquerade! And if I win you have to give back everyone Bakugan that you stole!"

Masquerade simply let out a small chuckle as he pulled out his own field card. "Dan hold on, let's think about this real quick." Lincoln told Dan as he thought they should make a game plan first.

"Sorry Lincoln but I'm the one who challenged him so I'm the one who's gonna battle him!" Dan yelled as he raised his card up.

"He's right." Masquerade confirmed as he held up his own field card. "You two will just have to wait in line like good boys and girls."

Dan and Masquerade that activated their cards. "**Bakugan Field Open!**" Dan and Masquerade's cards then glowed purple and red respectively as the field started opening.

"Dan wai-" Lincoln yelled as he tried to run towards Dan but couldn't reach him in time as the field opened for Dan and Masquerade only.

"**Gate Card Set!**" Both battlers yelled as they jumped up high and threw their gate cards down on the field.

However, Masquerade wasn't done. Dan watched as the masked brawler took a card out of his pocket. But this card didn't look like any card Dan has seen. It had a skull on it and seemed to leak with negative energy. "Set." Masquerade said as he dropped the card to the ground. The card pierced into the ground like a knife before glowing purple and completely getting absorbed into the ground.

Dan raised a brow as a wave of purple energy spread throughout the field. '_Wonder what he just threw down?' _Dan thought as he started to strategize in his mind. '_Better play it safe. I'll use my Serpenoid with higher G's.'_

Dan then took the mentioned Bakugan out of his Bakugan holder and prepared to throw it. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then threw his Serpenoid at his own gate card where it landed and the snake Bakugan was brought into the battle. "Bakugan Stand!"

"_Serpenoid enters battle at 3-2-0 G's._" The Baku-pod explained as it showed Serpenoid coming the battle.

"Heh." Masquerade gave a small grin as he took out a Darkus Bakugan and put it into a strange black device with purple highlights attached to his arm. "Bakugan Brawl!" Masquerade then aimed his arm forward and the Bakugan was launched out of the device at the same card Serpenoid was one. "Reaper Stand!"

The Bakugan ball opened up and glowed brightly. Now on the battlefield was a Bakugan that resembled the Grim Reaper himself. He had piercing blood red eyes, wings, and had a giant scythe in his hands. "_Darkus Reaper enters battle at 3-7-0 G's._" Dan looked at his Bakugan and saw the 50 G difference and power level and smirked.

"Ha! I can beat that!" Dan said confidently as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card Open!**" Dan's gate card then glowed brightly as flames appeared on the card along with a picture of Serpenoid.

"_Serpenoid power level increase by 3-0-0 G's_." The Baku-Pod said as it showed Serpenoid going up to a whopping 620 G's.

"Hah!" Dan laughed with a confident smile. "Beat that ya masked freak!"

Masquerade wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He actually smirked as he took out a card and slowly raised it into the air. "**Dimension Four.**" Masquerade said as the card glowed purple as shadow's suddenly covered Dan's gate card.

"_Power reduction detected._" Dan looked to his Baku-Pod and gasped as he saw his gate card become nullified and his Serpenoid return back to its base power level.

Reaper growled as he flew up to Serpenoid and slashed the snake Bakugan across the chest with its scythe. Serpenoid roared in pain…but instead of being turned back into a ball a purple portal opened up in the sky above Serpenoid. Dan was forced to watch as the Pyrus snake Bakugan was sucked into the portal. And once it was sucked in, the portal closed.

"What? He took my beast right out of the battle!" Dan yelled as Reaper turned back into a ball and returned to Masquerade's hand.

"What incredible power!" Drago said while still in his balled-up state.

Dan then took out his Pyrus Saurus and reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then threw his Saurus at Masquerade's gate card. "Saurus stand!" The ball then opened up as the Pyrus Saurus was unleashed into the battle.

Masquerade smirked as he put Reaper into the launcher once more. "Bakugan Brawl!" The masked brawler yell as he sent the Reaper into battle once more to battle Dan's Saurus. "Bakugan Stand!"

Once Reaper was unleashed, Dan pulled out an ability card and threw it at his Pyrus Saurus. "**Ability Card Activate: Saurus Glow!**" Saurus absorbed the power of the card. Saurus then had a powerful red aura around him as flames covered the arena. "You beat my gate card, but you won't be able to override the power of the ability card!"

Masquerade simply smirked in response as he pulled out another card and rose it up similar to last time. "**Double Dimension: Activate!**" The card glowed as the aura and flames surrounding Saurus disappeared. The ability card was shut down.

"Aw man!" Dan gasped as he watched his Saurus power down. "He shut down the ability!"

Similar with Serpenoid, Reaper struck Saurus with his scythe and once again, instead of turning back into a ball, Saurus was sent flying into a vortex that closed once it entered. "No Saurus!" Dan yelled he watched the Bakuagan disappear.

"No fair!" Dan yelled as he glared at Masquerade. "I want my Bakugan back!"

"Sorry but no can do." Masquerade told Dan as he caught Reaper after the Darkus Bakugan turned back into a ball. "Once the Doom Card is played the battle is over."

"Doom Card?" Dan repeated in a confused tone. What's a Doom Card? He's never heard of something like that before.

"Yes Dan, the Doom Card." Masquerade confirmed with a small smirk on his face. "Once you throw it down it overpowers all cards. Sending the defeated Bakugan into a different Dimension for all eternity."

"You're kidding!" Dan yelled in response.

"The _Doom Dimension_!" Drago gasped out in a tone of disbelief and anger. "He's right human. A Bakugan can never return from the Doom Dimension. It's where we meet our eternal demise. Nothing is feared more."

"Now I know how your stealing everyones Bakugan!" Dan yelled at the masked brawler after hearing Drago's explanation. "But the question is, why you wreakin our game Masquerade!?"

Masquerade chuckled a bit in response before speaking. "Dan, Dan, Dan, whoever said this was just a game?" The masked brawler said as he looked Dan right in the eyes. "Every single battle is real."

"Huh…" Dan let out as a bead of sweat went down his forehead. "Drago?" Dan then turned to the Pyrus Dragonoid and saw that Drago was fiercely growling and glowing red with anger. Dan gritted his teeth as he pulled out a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" The gate card Dan threw landed in front of Masquerade gate card which was still on the field.

The Pyrus user then grabbed Drago and put on a determined expression. "Come on Drago! This is our one shot at it!" Dan then threw Drago towards the gate card he set down. "Bakugan Brawl! Drago Stand!"

Once unleased, Drago let out a powerful roar as he flew up into the air. At the same time, Masquerade launched his Reaper into battle and the two Bakugan quickly started battling with Drago attempting to bite Reaper with the Darkus Bakugan blocking it with his scythe. "Why are you doing this?!" The Pyrus Bakugan demanded to know. "Do you realized what's happened in Vestroia?"

"That does not concern me!" Reaper retorted with a deep voice.

"Of course it does!" Drago yelled as he let go of Reaper's scythe and flew back and dodged a swing from said weapon.

"I am a soldier!" Reaper responded as he continued to try and swing his scythe at Drago. "In this dimension, I am free to ally myself with a human! Then I can inherit infinite power!"

"You fool!" Drago then tried kicking Reaper after hearing what the Darkus Bakugan said.

"Enough!" Reaper yelled as he took off into the sky. "Time to send you to the Doom Dimension Dragonoid!"

"Come on Drago!" Dan cheered as another bead of nervous sweat came down from his head.

"Have a pleasant trip!" Reaper yelled as he successfully swung his scythe at Drago's face.

However, instead of being defeated, Drago roared as his body started to glow and radiate with intense heat. "What?" Masquerade gasped as he watched the scene take place in front of him.

"Drago!" Dan yelled as the Pyrus Bakugan started to power up. "**Gate Card Open: Activate Fire Storm!**" The gate card glowed as intense flames covered the field. "Down to our last card." Dan then pulled out the Boosted Dragon Card. "This is it!"

"_**ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!**_" Drago roared, keeping Dan from using the card. Drago's power just continued to rise and rise. Suddenly, the ability card in Dan's hand started to glow and crack before shattering. "_**ULTIMATE BOOST!**_"

Drago roared as he continued to power up. Flames completely engulfed the battlefield when-

* * *

"-t stop!" Lincoln finished as time started moving again. Both him and Lori gasped when they saw Dan looking around the area.

"Drago? Drago?" Dan called out in a concern tone. "Where are ya?" Dan then looked down and saw Drago in his ball form on the ground in front of his feet. Dan quickly picked him up and gave the Dragonoid a concerned look. "Drago…"

"I spared him for you." Everyone looked up and saw Masquerade standing in front of them and looking down at Dan.

"Why?" Dan asked the masked Brawler.

"You do realize I could have captured your Bakugan, but I decided against." Masquerade explained, confusing everyone by the masked brawler's unusual mercy. Masquerade then turned around and started leaving. "It's been a slice Dan. Later. And Lincoln, Lori, I'll have my eye on you."

Lincoln glared and growled at Masquerade with Lori huffing in response. "Literally creepy." The oldest Loud sibling stated.

"Wait!" Dan yelled as he stood up. "I can beat you!"

"Bakugan is more then just a game kiddo." Masquerade said immediately in response. "There are other dimensions and powers involved. It's battle that could lead to the destruction of an entire world."

"For real?" Dan asked in disbelief.

"You're just messing with us!" Lincoln yelled in response.

"Oh, I'm _dead _serious." Masquerade calmly responded before turning his head back and looking at the three. "And the only way to stop it…is to beat me." And with that, the masked brawler left.

Once he was gone, Lincoln and Lori quickly rushed to Dan's side and helped him off the ground. "So…what are we dealing with here?" Lori asked the Pyrus user.

Dan looked to Drago, who seemed to be unconscious in his hand, and clenched his fist and teeth before speaking. "This guy…he's intense."

Lincoln gritted his teeth in response before turning around and walking towards the other exit of the area they were in. "Lincoln…where are you going?" Lori called out to her brother in a concerned tone.

"Look…I just…I just need to clear my head ok." Lincoln said as he held his forehead. Despite not seeing the battle, the way Dan was, and Masquerade's presence…it just felt like a bomb had been dropped. "I'll be home before dinner ok. I'm just gonna take a walk."

"O…Ok…be careful." Lori said quietly as she watched her brother leave.

* * *

…

…

…

…

The Doom Dimension.

A place where Bakugan met their ultimate demise.

A Bakugan graveyard.

Bakugan Hell.

It was a grey and lifeless land with sky that was forever black. The petrified remains of Bakugan were spread throughout the entirety of area and far, far, far, FAR beyond that.

…

…

…

Suddenly…the remaind started to glow.

Orbs of elemental energy suddenly flew out of the petrified Bakugan. Pyrus, Haos, Aquos, Ventus, Subterra, and Darkus orbs all flew out of the Bakugan, the final remains of any sort of life force they had. All the energy piled together into the sky. The orb of collected energy grew bigger and bigger and glowed brighter and brighter when-

"_**ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!**_"

Suddenly a Darkus Bakugan was born from the remaining energy. The Bakugan resembled a dragon with yellow eyes. It had an impressive amount of muscle on it as well as razor sharp teeth and claws with wings that were separate form its arms unlike Dargo. It had three horns on its head with the ones on the left and right bordering his eyes and the one in the middle being long and protruding forward with the tip being extremely sharp as well as a tail with a needle-like end.

Letting out a roar, this Bakugan flew up high into the Doom Dimensions endless sky before disappearing into a bright light.

* * *

Back in the human world, Lincoln Loud was seen walking in the park. The thought of Masquerade still in his head. The aura of darkness and intimidation constantly flowing out of him. The stories of people fighting him losing their Bakugan…it scared him.

"AAAAAH! What am I gonna do?!" Lincoln yelled as he sat down on the edge of the fountain that was at the center of the park. "I…I don't wanna lose my Bakugan."

Lincoln then took out all the Bakugan he had and looked at them in his open palm. Lincoln let out a sigh as he held his head low. "I need to step up my game. Fast." Lincoln told himself. As he said this, the memories of Drago talking to him came into his mind. "Maybe if I had a Bakugan like that…I could do it. Just…something. Anything."

Lincoln was silent for a moment and simply listened to the water of the fountain flow…when the sky started to glow. Lincoln winced as he looked up as the sky grew brighter. Looking forward, he noticed a couple that was walking through the park suddenly slowed down, as if time around them was slowing down. Standing up, Lincoln looked around and saw that it was happening everywhere. Time was slowing to a halt for everything but him. "What's…what's going on?!" Lincoln yelled as he rapidly looked around at everything slowing coming to a stop.

Suddenly the bright light only got brighter and brighter causing Lincoln to cover his eyes with his arms as the light got even more intense…and then stopped.

Peaking an eye out, Lincoln looked around and saw that time started again and everything was going at its normal pace. Letting out a sigh, Lincoln rubbed his head as he let out. "Haven't I been through enough for one day?" But right as Lincoln said that, his eyes widened as he felt someone, or _something_, watching him.

Turning around, he looked to the fountain and saw-

"A Bakugan?" Lincoln quietly question as on the fountain, he saw a Darkus Bakugan that certainly wasn't there before now resting on the fountain.

"_Huh…where am I?_" Lincoln silently gasped as he heard the Bakugan speak! Lincoln eyed the Bakugan as it opened up.

The Bakugan showed itself to resemble a dragon, and with its yellow eyes looked up at Lincoln's green ones as they both said in unison…

"_Who are you?_"

* * *

_**I can't tell you how much I smiled while writing this. I'm just on a nostalgia overload here! I'm loving every second of this fic and I promise it'll only continue to get better and better. **_

_**Now, I face to say this before I forget. DO NOT POST SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS! Their might be people who still need to watch the show or finish watching it so don't post any major spoilers in the reviews or you WILL be reported!**_

_**So with that said, remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for...**_

**_"Leonidas"_**


	4. Leonidas

**_Been looking forward to this one since me and Petrus first started talking about this fic! Like I said he's pretty much the co-writer to this story and we've thought of plenty of moments of this chapter as well as many others along the line! So with that said I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

"_Who are you?"_

Both human and Bakugan spoke in unison. Lincoln gasped when he heard the Darkus Bakugan talk as said Bakugan started looking around the park. '_He…he can talk! Just like Drago!_' Lincoln thought in amazement as the Bakugan turned and looked up at Lincoln.

"Where…where am I?" The Bakugan asked in deep and tough sounding voice. "What is this place?"

"U-Um…well…" Lincoln struggled to say as he was trying his best not to freak out over a talking Bakugan suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Gulping, Lincoln took a deep breath before speaking. "You're...you're i-in the park in Royal Woods Michigan."

"Royal Woods…Michigan?" The Bakugan questioned as it looked around the area again. "So…I'm not in Vestroia then."

'_Vestroia? What's that?'_ Lincoln wondered in his mind as he had never heard of this Vestroia place before. Although…something told him he would have to remember that name for later. As if it was important. Shaking his head, Lincoln decided to ask a question that just entered his mind. "So, do you mind telling me your name? I'm Lincoln, Lincoln Loud."

"Lincoln Loud huh?" The Bakugan repeated as it looked over Lincoln. "So…you must be a human. Well, my name is _Leonidas_."

"Leonidas huh?" Lincoln said with a smile as he walked up to the fountain and knelt down, so he'd be more level with Leonidas. "That's pretty cool, it starts with L just like me."

"You're point being?" Leonidas asked with a bit of annoyance in his voice. What was this human's fascination with their name starting with the same letter?

"So, Leonidas…you're strong right?" Lincoln asked with a small smirk on his face. It seems the universe might have answered his earlier wish.

"Hmph." Leonidas huffed as he looked up at Lincoln. It seemed his eyes glowed after Lincoln asked that question. "Why does my power level concern you human?"

"Well, you just look pretty strong is all." Lincoln complimented as he looked over Leonidas's form. "I've seen a lot of tough Bakugan before, but I can tell you're something else."

"Well, at least even a human can see that." Leonidas…complimented? Lincoln back as he repeated his earlier question. "But I'll ask again, why does that concern you?"

"Well, it just so happens that Bakugan battles are very popular around here." Lincoln informed the Darkus Bakugan with a grin. "And I just so happened to be looking for a Bakugan to help me out. You know, battle and defeat some really tough and strong opponents."

"…I'm listening." Leonidas said after a moment of silence. After hearing what Lincoln said the Darkus Bakugan's interest was piqued.

"I was wondering if maybe you and I could team up." Lincoln asked with an enthusiastic smirk. He then pumped up a fist as he started to hype up his offer. "This creep name Masquerade suddenly showed up and reached the top of the leader board. That means he's the best battler in the world! And me and my friends need to take him down since he's been wrecking the game! Not only that, but we're bound to face a lot of other tough people and Bakugan on the way."

"Hmmm, I see." Leonidas hummed as he turned to his left. The Darkus Bakugan went into deep thought. "I sense my true power will be unleased in these Bakugan Battles. And the chance to show my strength to these opponents gets by blood racing."

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Lincoln cheered as he pumped up a fist. "If we team up, I'll bet we'll be able to beat anyone who faces us! Hands down!"

"…Yes. I like the sound of that." Leonidas followed up his words with a deep chuckle that showed he was already getting pumped up for a future fight. "I wish to face these opponents in battle and unleash my full power!"

"So, does that mean it's a deal?" Lincoln asked with an enthusiastic smile. The white head then opened his hand up and put his open palm in front of the Bakugan. "Partners?"

"…" Leonidas was silent for a moment as he looked at the human's palm. Lincoln frowned a bit as a bead of sweat came from his forehead. Did he say something wrong? It honestly seemed like Leonidas was on board with the idea. What if-

"Deal." Lincoln was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked to Leonidas with a surprised look.

"Woah seriously?!" Lincoln yelled as his face quickly gave a big and bright smile.

"Yes, if I partner with you, I'll be able to participate in these battles." Leonidas said as he jumped into Lincolns palm. "So, my answer is yes. Partner."

"Yes! Alright!" Lincoln cheered with a pumped-up fist and a wide smile that could rival his sister Luan's grin after she pulled a prank. He then brought Leonidas up to his face and gave the Bakugan a grin. "I promise you won't regret this Leonidas!"

"Hmph, time will tell human." Leonidas said in response as Lincoln moved his hand to his shoulder so Leonidas can sit upon it.

"Just…call me Lincoln." The Loud boy said with a sweat drop and a sheepish smile. Lincoln then started to make his way out of the park. "Just wait till my friends and family get a look at you!"

* * *

About 20 minutes later, Lincoln was walking through the streets of his neighborhood and heading back to his house. Leonidas was still perched upon his shoulder as the human walked forward. The Darkus Bakugan then turned to face Lincoln's own face and asked. "So, where are we heading Lincoln?"

"We're heading back to my house." Lincoln explained to his brand-new partner with a small smile on his face. "I wanna introduce you to my family. Or at least my sisters."

"So…you're showing me off?" Leonidas asked with both a questioning tone and a bit of annoyance. "Like some sort of object?"

Lincoln's eyes widened as he quickly started shaking his head. "No, no, no! It's not like that at all!" Lincoln quickly said while trying not to offend the Darkus Bakugan. "Its just, if you're my partner then that means you're gonna be crashing with me. So I just wanna introduce you and let you get to know my family so you can at least tolerate each other while hanging out with me."

"Hmmmm…very well." Leonidas calmed down as he went along with what Lincoln told him. "But I make no promises with getting along with your human kin."

"Hehe, yeah I understand." Lincoln responded with a sweat drop. "My house and family are honestly pretty chaotic, so I understand if it takes some time for you to adjust and even more time to get comfortable with my family. I'm just hoping to get the best possible results since you'll be living with us."

Soon enough, the two partners approached the front yard of the Loud House where Leonidas got a full view of the front of the house and the yard. "…It looks like a dump." The Darkus Bakugan said bluntly.

Lincoln sighed in response and slowly nodded. "Yeah, this house…has been through a lot over the years." Lincoln stated as suddenly memories of his family's chaotic antics flooded his mind. "Like I said, my family gets crazy."

Lincoln then reached his hand over to the shoulder Leonidas was sitting on and grabbed his partner off him. "Hey!" Leonidas yelled as he started wiggling while caught in Lincoln's fingers. "What are you doing?!"

"Relax, I'm just putting you in my pocket." Lincoln told the Bakugan in a calm and reassuring tone. "I wanna surprise everyone so just hang out in there while I get everyone together." Lincoln then gently put his partner into his pocket and headed inside.

Once in, he saw his mother sitting on the couch with a mystery novel in her heads and appeared to be deeply invested into the book. "Uh, mom?" Lincoln said to get Rita's attention.

"Oh, Lincoln you're back." Rita was pulled out of her book by her sons presence. "Lori told us you were out taking a walk. Is everything ok sweetie?"

"Yep! Never better mom!" Lincoln told his mother with genuine happiness and a genuine smile on his face. "I just needed to clear my head for a bit but I'm ok now."

"Well that's great to hear." Rita then gave her son a little pat on the head as she stood up from the couch. "Glad to hear you're doing good."

"Thanks mom." Lincoln responded before looking upstairs. "Are all my sister's home?"

"I believe so." Rita said as she put a hand to her chin.

"Alright! I need to get them all together!" Lincoln quickly said as he started running up the stairs. "I got something to show them!"

* * *

_**HALF-HOUR-LATER**_

"Alright! Order everyone! Order!" Currently all 11 Loud siblings were seated in Lori and Leni's room. Lincoln had asked Lori to call one of their sibling meetings. To get everyone to settle down like she did in all their meetings, Lori used one of her heels like a gable. "Lincoln has something he wants to share with all of us."

"Indeed I do." Lincoln said with a smirk as he stood up and walked in front of all of his sisters. "So, remember how we were all talking about the talking Bakugan this morning." All of his sisters nodding in response as Lincoln reached into his pocket. "Well…check this out!"

Lincoln then pulled something out of his pocket and opened up his hand to show off Leonidas's ball in his hand. "I found him after me Dan, and Lori went out today! A talking Bakugan! Girls, meet my brand new partner Leonidas!"

"Woooooah!" All the sisters said in unison as they approached Lincoln to see Leonidas.

"I've never seen a Bakugan like that before." Lynn said as she observed Leonidas.

"So, he really talks?" Lucy asked in her usual monotoned voice.

"Yep!" Lincoln said with a nod. "And he's strong to! I mean, I haven't seen him battle before, but I can feel it! We're gonna go far together!"

"Cooooool!" Lana said as she reached a handout to Leonidas. "Can I see him?" And when Lana's hand approached the Darkus Bakugan…

"Keep your filthy hands away from me!" Leonidas then popped out and yelled at the tomboy. Both the act of Leonidas talking as well as what he said causing Lana to flinch and step back.

"Woah! He _can _talk!" Luan gasped with fascination in her voice as she and her siblings heard the talking Bakugan.

"Yeah but he's rather rude." Lana said as she narrowed her eyes at Leonidas, very much hearing his rude comment towards her. "That was mean!"

"Yeah!" Lola said as she glared at Leonidas and pointed at the Darkus Bakugan. "No one talks to my sister like that mister!"

"As if I care what a mere human thinks." Leonidas growled back at Lola as he looked her right in the eyes with his own eyes glowing yellow.

"Hey come on Leonidas, be nice." Lincoln said as he brought Leonidas to his face so he could properly speak to his Darkus partner. "I know you said you weren't gonna be instant friends and I can respect that, but could you at least _try_ to be polite?" Leonidas simply grunted and turned his back to the sisters.

"Well, someones being a literal grump." Lori said with a frown. While she was incredibly going nuts over a talking Bakugan on the inside…she was hoping that it wouldn't be so rude.

"Where did you find this guy little bro?" Luna asked with a raised brow towards Leonidas who was still ignoring the sisters.

"I found him on the fountain at the park." Lincoln explained as he looked down at Leonidas. "I was taking a walk to clear my head about this whole…Masquerade stuff. And suddenly, Leonidas appeared out of thin air. One conversation later, and we're partners who are gonna work together to kick Masquerades butt! Right Leonidas?"

"Hmph, for now." Leonidas said in response making Lincoln sweat drop. Leonidas agreed to be partners, but if his interest was lost or her got bored, then he was out.

"This is quite intriguing." Lisa said as she pulled out a pen and clipboard. "Not only does this show that the Bakugan can actually possess a higher level of intelligence, but the fact that he, and I quote '_came out of nowhere' _also brings out a lot of questions." Lisa then put the eraser part of her pencil to her chin and tapped it in thought. "Perhaps if I can study him…"

"Don't even think about it Lisa!" Lincoln quickly got defensive and grabbed Leonidas with both of his hands and raised him up so that Lisa couldn't possibly reach him. "He's my partner! Not a science expirement!"

"Yeah Lis, besides, there are much more pressing matters to go over." Leni said with a raised head as she turned to face Leonidas and looked at the Darkus Bakugan with sparkles in her eyes. "Now tell me, how do you feel about tiny Bakugan sized cloths?"

"…What?" Leonidas said in a tone that showed he was completely confused.

"Uh, let's talk about that later." Lincoln said as he lowered Leonidas to his face again while sweat dropping. Leave it to Leni to put cloths first above other things. "Maybe we should focus on other things for now."

"Yeah, like seeing what Leonidas is made of." Surprising everyone, they turned to see Luan giving a challenging look to Lincoln. Some of the siblings then gasped as Luan pulled out her field card. "You up for a little brawl Linc?"

Lincoln took a moment to look at Luan before smirking and pulling out his own field card. "You know I am." Lincoln said with a smirk as he looked at his comedian sister in the eye.

"Hey! I wanted to challenge them!" Lynn said as she pulled out her own field card.

"Sorry Lynn, I asked first." Luan told her athletic younger sister. "Looks like I got the upper _card_ this time! Hahaha! Get it?"

Everyone groaned in response to Luan's pun, even Leonidas, before the Darkus Bakugan spoke up. "While I'm more then happy to tear you apart on the battlefield, I must ask Lincoln…all these all your kin?"

"Yep! This is the Loud family!" Lincoln confirmed as he gestured to all his sister.

"Goo-goo!" Lily said as she looked at Leonidas with curiosity in her baby eyes.

"…So how much do you humans usually reproduce?" Leonidas bluntly asked causing Lincoln and his older sisters to freeze as their faces went red with the younger siblings simply rose their eyebrows in confusion. The only exception to this was Lisa who simply kept a blank face.

"I can tell you this much, its normally a lot less then our family." Lisa told the Darkus Bakugan as she put her pencil on her ear. "And even then, I'm still surprised our mother was able to create all of us. I've been meaning to ask her to do some testing regarding her reproducti-"

"Ok! That's enough of that!" Lori quickly said, covering Lisa's mouth while her face was a bright red in embarrassment. "Let's just…get to the battle."

About 5 minutes later, all the siblings were now in their back yard. All but two of them were sitting by the fence and watching the last two siblings as they stood each other down. Lincoln and Luan were standing about 3 yards from each other as they looked into each other's eyes as they pulled out their field cards.

"**Field Open!**" Lincoln and Luan called out in unison as they activated their field cards with Luan's glowing blue and Lincoln's glowing purple. Soon enough, the Bakugan field opened for the two siblings as they jumped up high and grabbed their gate cards. "**Gate Card set!**"

Both of them threw their gate cards opposite of each other to where they expanded to their giant size. "Alright Linc, we're gonna have a _ball_! Hahahaha! Bakugan Brawl!" Luan then took out an Aquos Bakugan and threw it at her own gate card. "Aquos Robotallion stand!"

The Bakugan stood when it landed and an Aquos attributed Robotallion appeared on Luan's card. "_Aquos Robotallion enters battle at 2-4-0 G's_." The Baku-Pod explained as it showed Robotallions power level.

"Hmph, how pathetic." Leonidas said as he looked up at Robotallion. "I'll crush him with ease."

"Ok, reel a back a little their bud." Lincoln said to Leonidas with a nervous expression. This was just a battle with his sister to show off Leonidas's strength…not a battle to the death. "But, I like that fighting spirit! Ya ready?"

"I'm always ready for battle." Leonidas informed Lincoln as he closed back up into ball.

"Then let's do this partner! Our first official battle!" Lincoln then grabbed Leonidas and reared his hand back far. "Let's do this! Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Leonidas towards the gate card Robotallion was on. "Leonidas Stand!"

Leonidas then stood up on the card as he glowed brightly and was unleased from his ball form. Letting out a roar that pushed Luan back and caused her to stand her ground while Lincoln's hair was blown back, they watched as Leonidas's true form was revealed to them. "H-Holy Shamoly…" Luan let out in a frightened tone as she looked up at the immensely intimidating form of Leonidas with the Darkus Bakugan being 40 feet taller than Robotallion.

"Woah! Leonidas you look awesome!" Lincoln loudly cheered with a big grin on his face. "Now let's see what kind of power you're packing." Lincoln then checked his Baku-Pod to see how high Leonidas's G power was…and his draw dropped!

"_Darkus Leonidas enters battle at 4-0-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod explained as it showed Leonidas at a whopping 400 G's at base power!

"400 G's!? That's not possible!" Luan yelled in immense shock as her ponytail suddenly stood up in reaction to the shocked state Luan was in. "I've never seen a Bakugan with that high a power level!"

"We're you expecting anything else but true Bakugan strength!" Leonidas yelled as he let out a roar. Being on this battlefield and facing another Bakugan has never made him feel more alive!

Lincoln shook his head with an excited grin on his face. "Not at all partner!" Lincoln told the Darkus dragon before looking to Luan's eyes. "Ready when you are Luan!"

Luan sweated nervously as she looked over Leonidas's power level and then at the Bakugan himself for a moment before making an audible gulp and looking at Lincoln. "A high base power alone isn't gonna guarantee a win Linc!" Luna yelled before sticking her head out. "**Gate Card Open!**"

Luan's gate card then started glowing brightly as Robotallion gained a bright blue aura around him. The Aquos Bakugan then locked eyes at Leonidas as it started charging. "_Gate card increases Robotallion power level by 2-0-0 G's." _The Baku-Pod explained as it showed Robotallion going up to 440 G's.

"Heh, how pathetic." Leonidas commented, not feeling one bit intimidating. "If that's the best you have to offer I'm no impressed."

"Let's show her Leonidas!" Lincoln yelled as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Demonic Dragon****!**" Once activated, Leonidas growled as an aura of darkness covered him. The Darkus Bakugan's muscles started bulking up as his power increased.

"_Leonidas power increase by 5-0 G's. Robotallion power decrease by 5-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod then showed Leonidas increasing to 450 G's and Robotallion decreasing to 390 G's.

As Robotallion approached, the Aquos Bakugan's face was then grabbed by Leonidas and held in a painfully right grip. "I'll crush you!" Leonidas yelled as he flew up into the sky. Once in the air, Leonidas gripped Robotallion face one more time for some extra damage before kicking the Aquos Bakugan in the gut and sending it speeding down to the ground. To finish off, the Darkus Bakugan divebomb at full speed with his fist out and crashed down onto Robotallion and creating a large dust cloud and blowing Luan back a bit.

"Ugh! Robotallion!" Luan yelled as she struggled to keep her ground with her eyes sealed shut.

A blue glow then came out of the cloud and Robotallion was seen flying out of the cloud in ball form and landing on the ground at Luan's feet. Luan opened her eyes to see Robotallion above her and then looked up and flinched when she saw Leonidas looking down at her. "Who's next?" The Bakugan growled before glowing purple and returning to ball form and going back to Lincoln's hand.

"That was awesome Leonidas!" Lincoln cheered his partner as the Bakugan landed back in his hand. "Way to win!"

"Hmph, against a weak opponent like that, it was a singe." Leonidas told his partner before closing back into a ball. "Now come on, we still have more work to do."

"Right!" Lincoln said as he pulled out a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Lincoln then threw his gate card to the right of his first gate card. Lincoln then reared his hand back and threw Leonidas once more "Bakugan Brawl! Leonidas stand!" Leonidas then landed on the new gate card Lincoln threw and roared as his true form once again appeared.

Luan gulped again as Leonidas roared and grabbed another Bakugan. "I won't be beaten twice in a row!" Luan then reared her hand back and prepared to throw. "Bakugan Brawl!" Luna then threw the Bakugan at the gate card Leonidas was on. "Limulus stand!"

The Bakugan then popped out of its ball and glowed as coming onto the battlefield was an Aquos Bakugan that resembled a horseshoe crab. "_Aquos Limulus enters battle at 2-8-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod showed the battle between the 400 G Leonidas and the 280 G Limulus.

"This should make you feel _crabby!_" Luan punned as she pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Holographic Divide!**" Limulus then started glowing as it let out a roar.

"_Holographic Divide ability equals Bakugan G power to match opponents. Aquos Limulus power increase to 4-0-0 G's."_ The Baku-pod explains as it showed Limulus's power increasing to match Leonidas.

"Come on Luan you can do better than that!" Lincoln said with a smirk as he brought his hand forward. "**Gate card open: Character!**" The gate card Leonidas and Limulus was one started glowing brightly as a picture of Leonidas appeared on it.

"Yes! I can feel my strength far exceed yours!" Leonidas yelled as his power level increased due to the character card.

"_Leonidas power increase to 8-0-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod showed Leonidas's power level doubling due to the effect of the gate card.

"Oh no." Luan squeaked as she watched Leonidas easily overpower her Limulus. The Darkus Bakugan picked up Limulus by its side and proceeded to knee the horseshoe crab under its shell. Leonidas repeated this a few times as Limulus let out screeches of pain before the Darkus Bakugan head butted the Aquos Bakugan directly in the face and finally finished it off as Limulus turned back into a ball and went to Luan's feet.

"You're on a roll partner!" Lincoln cheered on as Leonidas turned back into a ball and went to Lincoln's hand. "Keep it up buddy!"

"Um…Lincoln, are you sure about this?" Lincoln looked up to see Luan pick up her Limulus with a worried and rather disturbed expression on her face. "Are you sure Leonidas should be you're partner."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lincoln asked back as he narrowed his eyes at Luan. "Leonidas is awesome! Of course I'm sure!"

"Well…it's just…he's a bit aggressive." Luan told her brother as Lincoln tilted his head a bit. "I mean, did you even see the way he fought? That and he was a bit of a jerk earlier."

"So? Lynn's like that to." Lincoln said in defense of his new partner. "So Leonidas is a bit rough around the edges. That's just who he is. Now come on, are we gonna finish this or what?"

Luan frowned a bit before growling and taking out a gate card. "Fine! **Gate Card set**!" Luan then threw the gate card to the right of Lincoln's original gate card. She then took her final Aquos Bakugan out and reared her hand back. "Bakugan Brawl! Aquos Saurus stand!" The Bakugan then landed on its owners gate card where an Aquos version of Saurus came into battle.

"Alright Leonidas, just one more brawl and its all ours!" Lincoln said with a determined grin as he took Leonidas into his hand again.

"Let's destroy them!" Leonidas growled as he got amped up for another fight.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Leonidas at the gate card Saurus was on. "Leonidas stand!" Leonidas let out a powerful roar as he was put into the battle for a third time.

"_Saurus power at 2-6-0 G's. Leonidas power at 4-0-0 G's." _The Baku-Pod said as it showed quite a big 140 G power gap between the two Bakugan.

"**Gate Card open!**" Luan called out as the gate card started to glow. Luan then quickly pulled out an ability card. "And take this to! **Ability activate: Saurus Wave!**" Luan then threw the ability card at Saurus with the Bakugan absorbing the power and roaring as its power level rose.

"_Gate card increases Saurus power by 5-0 G's. Ability card raises Saurus power by 120 G's." _The Baku-pod showed each induvial power increase from the gate and ability card respectively and increasing Saurus to 430 G's.

Saurus roared again as the Aquos Bakugan started charging at Leonidas shoulder first like a foot-ball player. "Lincoln…do it." Leonidas said as he started at the charging Saurus as the inside of his mouth started glowing blue.

"**Ability Activate!**" Lincoln yelled out as he rose an ability card high above his head. "**Alpha Blaster!**"

Leonidas then opened his mouth wide as a blue orb formed inside. "WITNESS THE TRUE POWER OF LEONIDAS!" Leonidas roared as his power massively increased.

"_Leonidas power increase by 1-5-0 G's."_ The Baku-pod said as it showed Leonidas going up to 550 G's.

"NO WAY!" Luan yelled as she watched Leonidas's attack fully charge.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!" Leonidas let out a powerful roar as a massive blue laser shot out of his mouth. Saurus froze as the laser completely engulfed him. The light of the attack glowed brightly throughout the entire battlefield when-

* * *

"Woah! What happened?" Lori asked as the battlefield disappeared and Luan was seen with a shocked expression with Saurus landing on the grass in front of her.

"Alright! We won!" Lincoln cheered as he caught Leonidas in his hand once more. "Way to go Leonidas! We won our first brawl as a team."

Leonidas grunted in response as he looked up at Lincoln. "Was there ever any doubt?" The Darkus Bakugan asked as Lincoln simply grinned and shook his head.

"Sis you ok?" Luna asked in a concerned tone as she helped her roommate off her knees. "You look pretty out of it. What happened back there?"

"I got completely clobbered." Luan said quietly continued to look out into space. "Leonidas…he's so strong."

"How strong was-hey Lincoln?" Lori cut herself off as she looked up and saw Lincoln going into the house. "Where are you going?"

"Sorry girls! I just gotta tell the guys about this!" Lincoln said as he opened the door and quickly ran inside. "I'll talk to you all later!"

Lincoln then quickly ran to the stairs and headed up them and then sped over to his own room. Lincoln immediately grabbed his laptop and opened it up as he put Leonidas next to his computer. Leonidas opened up and looked up at Lincoln. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting online." Lincoln said as he opened up his chat room. "There's a few more people I want you to meet." Leonidas simply grunted in response but looked towards the computer.

After about a minute, Runo, Alice, Julie, and Marucho showed up in the chat room. "Hey Lincoln!" They all said in unison.

"Hey guys!" Lincoln quickly responded with. However, the white head rose an eyebrow as he noticed a lack of a certain Pyrus user in the chat room. "Guess Dan must be resting after his battle with Masquerade."

"Don't tell me he actually tried to fight that creep!" Runo yelled in both anger and disbelief.

"Oh no! Is my little Danny ok?!" Julie asked with massive concern in her voice.

"Yes!" Alice quickly added in after words with an expression that showed she was just as, if not more, concerned then Julie. "How's Dan?!"

"Relax guys, he's fine." Lincoln told them in a reassuring tone. "He and Drago are fine. They just got a little roughed up is all."

Both Alice and Julie let out a sigh of relief as Marucho spoke up. "Well that's good to hear." The blond ball said with a relieved smile. "I was worried there for a bit."

"These humans are rather annoying." Leonidas commented as he turned to Lincoln.

Everyone on Lincoln's computer froze when they heard the Bakugan's voice. "Uuuuh, Lincoln who was that?" Julie asked with a confused expression.

"It certainly didn't sound like one of your sisters." Runo said in a lightly joking tone.

Lincoln rolled his eyes in response to Runo's joke. His expression then turned into an excited smirk as he told everyone. "There's actually someone I want you guys to meet."

"Oh really?" Alice asked in a curious tone. "Who is it?"

"Everyone, I want you to meet…" Lincoln then scooped up Leonidas in both of his hands and put him in front of the computer. "My partner! Leonidas, these are my friends. Friends, this is Leonidas."

"Hpmh." Leonidas huffed as he turned away slightly. "They don't look like much to me."

While Lincoln sweat dropped in response, his friends gasped in response when they heard Leonidas talk. "He can talk!" Marucho said in surprise.

"Look at that, it has ears." Leonidas sarcastically said in response to Marucho's comment. "I can talk, and it can listen."

"Kinda rude isn't he." Runo glared at Leonidas with puffed up cheeks. "Ever heard of manners?"

"And have you ever heard about I don't care." Leonidas respond with making Runo start to go red with anger.

"Ok, let's all calm down." Alice said in a gentle tone as she tried to defuse the situation. "It's very nice to meet you Leonidas. I'm Alice and this is Julie, Marucho, and Runo."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Marucho said with a head bow.

"Its so cool you found a talking Bakugan Lincoln!" Julie gushed as she clapped her hands together. "You must so happy right now!"

"Yeah! Leo's awesome!" Lincoln confirmed, shortening Leonidas's name and put the Bakugan on his shoulder. "We make a great team and I can't even begin to tell you how powerful he is! He defeated Luan all on his own!"

"Heh, she was a cakewalk." Leonidas bragged as he completely faced the computer screen again to look at Lincoln's friends. "Defeating her was simple and easy."

"Oh, think your such a tough guy huh?" Runo said in an irritated tone as tick mark appeared on her head. "Well I'd like to see just how much of a 'tough guy' you are!"

"Is that a challenge?" Leonidas growled at the blue haired human.

"Anytime! Anywhere!" Runo yelled back at the Bakugan.

Lincoln sweat dropped in response as he scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "You're gonna do this a lot are you?" The white head said as he figured Leonidas might get him into a lot of fights in the future. "Well, I got some homework to do guys. I'll talk to you all later. Can't wait to introduce Leonidas to Dan and Drago tomorrow. Along with everyone else."

And with that, Lincoln bid his friends goodbye and shut off his computer.

* * *

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

"Woah! So the guys weren't kidding when you said you had one to!" Currently, Dan and Lincoln were walking through the halls of their school. Both of their Bakugan partners were on their shoulders as they walked. It seemed Drago was being oddly friendly to Dan today. "What's his name again?"

"Leonidas." Lincoln told Dan with a grin. "And I couldn't have asked for a better partner. He's amazing and tougher than nails."

"Is that so?" Dan said with a challenging grin.

The two humans continued talking, the two Bakugan on their shoulders turned to each other. "So, you're the Leonidas I heard Dan's friends talk about last night." Drago said as he remembered over hearing Dan's friends telling the Pyrus user that Lincoln found himself a talking Bakugan.

"And what of it Dragonoid." Leonidas growled back to the Darkus Bakugan.

"…Nothing just…curious." Drago said rather slowly before turning further. '_This is odd. I've never seen or even heard of this Bakugan before. And the negative energy coming off him…its like he's __**made**__ of it. Gotta be cautious around this one._"

"So we're agreed. A little battle after school." Dan with a pumped-up fist when-

"Hey! Watch where you're going ya little freakshow!"

Both Dan and Lincoln stopped when they heard the loud and insulting voice. Looking forward, they see a student the same grade as me with ripped jeans, dirty brown hair, a black death metal t-shirt, and black eyes.

He appeared to be yelling at someone that was probably knocked to the floor by him, along with their books they were holding scattered on the floor. But Lincoln recognized this person. It was a girl about his age, she had a slender figure and her skin was similar to Lucy's in being very pale. She had long black hair with a reflective shin and purple eye shadow and purple eyes. She wore a long dark purple dress with a black belt that had a skull buckle and dark purple fingerless gloves. This was none other then Lucy's best friend and fellow goth Haiku.

"Bump into me again and I'm gonna throw you right into the trash can!" The bully yelled at Haiku as the goth winced a bit. Not from the words themselves but rather at the volume.

"Hey! Back off Bruno!" Dan suddenly stepped forward and glared at the bully. "If you know what's good for ya!"

"Oh yeah?!" Bruno yelled at the Pyrus user. "Or what Kuso!"

Haiku rubbed her head for a second and was about to get up but stopped as she saw someone step in front of her. "Lincoln?" Haiku asked in a monotone voice with just a small hint of surprise at seeing Lucy's older brother step up in her defense.

"Leave her alone!" Lincoln yelled at Bruno with a fierce look. "Or else?"

Bruno rose a brow as he looked over Lincoln before going into gut busting laughing. "AHAHAHAHAHA! YOU?!" The bully said in between laughs. "What are you gonna do snowball?!"

Lincoln's glare hardened as the white-haired boy heard Leonidas viciously growling. "Lincoln…" The Darkus Bakugan said in a low voice. "I want to destroy him!"

"That makes two of us." Lincoln said as he grabbed Leonidas with on hand and reached into his pocket with the other. "You wanna know what else Bruno?" Lincoln then took out his field card and showed it to the bully.

Bruno saw this and gave a wicked grin as he pulled out his own field card. "Oh, you are going _down _little man!" Bruno growled as they both raised their field cards.

"**Field Open!**" Bruno's card then glowed red as Lincoln's glowed purple and-

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Suddenly Bruno was sent back as the field around them closed and the bully was now on his butt with a terrified expression on his face. He stuttered as Lincoln caught Leonidas in his hand. "Y-Y-You…You're Bakugan's a monster!"

"Heh, all bark and no bite huh." Lincoln said with a smirk as he put Leonidas on his shoulder.

Bruno flinched in fright before shakily getting up and raising his hands in surrender. "L-L-Look, I'm sorry ok! I'll never do it again I promise! AAAAAAHHH!" Bruno then quickly ran away as fast as he could crying like a baby.

"Hmph, and stay away." Lincoln said under his breathe.

"Hey, way to kick his butt Linc." Dan complimented while giving his friend a thumbs up.

"Thanks." Lincoln responded with simply before turning around and looking down at Haiku who was still on the floor and giving Lincoln the same expression. The Loud boy then extended his hand to the goth girl. "Need a hand?"

Haiku took a moment to look at Lincoln's hand before grabbing it with one of her own. "Thanks." Haiku said in a monotoned, but thankful, voice as Lincoln helped her stood up. "It's not often that people stand up for me like that. I've just learned to deal with it."

"Well I don't like to see anyone being bullied." Lincoln told Haiku with a small smile and a shrug. "I'm glad I could help you." Just then Lincoln looked back to the floor and saw that her books were still on the floor. "Here, let me get these for you."

Haiku watched as Lincoln picked up her books off the floor and handed them to the goth. "Thanks, I appreciate it." Haiku thanked once more before looking to Leonidas on Lincoln's shoulder. A tiny almost unnoticeable smile appeared on her face when she looked at the Bakugan. "I see you use Darkus. That's pretty cool."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Lincoln said as a sheepish smile came to him causing him to scratch the back of his head.

"I'll see you later." Haiku told Lincoln before walking away.

"Uh, yeah! See ya later!" Lincoln called out to the goth as he watched her walked away.

It looks like today was already off to an interesting start.

* * *

**_I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Leonidas is so underrated and I wished they used him in the future games. Honestly he should have been in the show to he's just that cool! Btw, about Marduck and Vladitor, I'm not gonna make any promises with them being in the story. It might be pretty hard to write them into the story so Leonidas is pretty much the only thing I planned on using in the fic. So maybe I will add them in somehow, maybe I won't. We'll just have to wait and see. _**

**_And before anyone ask, I know Haiku is 9 in canon but I aged her up to match Lincoln. I don't think its a big deal._**

**_So, remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for..._**

**_"A Feud Between Friends."_**


	5. A Fued Between Friends

_**Sorry about the wait on this one. Had some school stuff to take care of but its all good now so no need to worry. I still have enough steam to fill up 5 sauna's when it comes to writing this story so don't expect any real slow downs. And don't worry about my other fics, L10 might be on hiatus but I'm still thinking of stuff for it and I wanna get the chapters of this fic up before working on those again but they aren't straight up Hiatus. And to that hater who's doing nothing with his life but making bad guest reviews for L10 because the story didn't go his way, just know that story will continue back up sometime so just deal with it. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**_

* * *

Lincoln let out a yawn as he started to fluster. He winced as sunlight hit his eyes and took a few moments to get used to it before he finally opened his eyes to wake up to a brand-new day. Thankfully it was Sunday, so he was able to sleep in both yesterday and today. Lincoln relished the day's he could sleep considering how chaotic his house could be.

Letting out another yawn, the white head sat up in bed and looked at his desk/drawer and smiled as he saw his Bakugan partner Leonidas in ball form resting on a small pillow. Ever since Lincoln found Leonidas, he's set up a small resting area for the Bakugan and so far, Leonidas seemed to have liked it.

As for Leonidas living in the Loud House…well…it certainly was interesting. For starters Leonidas really didn't show any of Lincoln's sisters any respect. He wasn't afraid of making jokes at their expense, calling them out, or outright insulting them. Needless to say, he easily got on the sister's nerves causing Lincoln to play peace maker.

However, Leonidas did show some respect for Lori after watching her in battle when Lori offered Lincoln and Leonidas to watch her battle some of her friends from high school. But they as of yet to actually battle Lori themselves. But Leonidas was one of those Bakugan who had to give credit where it was due, and he has seen that Lori has some rather exceptional battling skills.

But aside from that, the only Loud sibling Leonidas really got along with was the only boy in the family. As for Lincoln's parents, well, Lincoln hasn't really shown them Leonidas. His parents knew both he and all of his sisters were crazy about Bakugan, some more than others, but he didn't really know how his parents would react to one of his Bakugan talking…especially since Leonidas might not exactly treat them with respect.

So, he was keeping Leonidas on the down low with his parents, at least for now.

Leonidas and Lincoln have also become quite the team. Once everyone in his classroom saw that Lincoln had a talking Bakugan, regardless of how much Leonidas mocked them, they were eager to take the two of them on in battle. And just like with Bruno, all of Lincoln's classmates had saw just how much of a beast Leonidas was while brawling. Combined with Lincolns 'Man with the Plan' strategic mind, the two were classic Brain and Brawn type of team.

In fact, ever since Lincoln and Leonidas have teamed up, Lincoln's rank had raised to be exactly at number 100.

So, things were looking good for the new ultimate duo. "Alright Leonidas, time to get up." Lincoln told his partner as he stood up from bed and stretched a bit causing some cracking sounds in his joints.

"Uuuugh, morning already?" Leonidas grunted in a sleepy tone as he popped out of his ball and looked up at Lincoln. "Can't we have five more minute?"

"It's already eleven, if we sleep longer then we're gonna be late meeting up with Dan." Lincoln informed his Darkus partner as he started to get dressed into his day cloths. "Don't wanna miss out on any potential Brawls, do we?"

"…No." Leonidas admitted as he turned away from the Loud boy. Far be it from him to turn down a fight. It's what he lived to do! "Very well then, let us get ready."

"That's the spirit." Lincoln said as he grabbed Leonidas and put him on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go."

And with that Lincoln and Leonidas started the day. First was the bathroom for Lincoln to brush his teeth as well as Leonidas. Dan showed Lincoln something he did with Drago and decided to do that with Leonidas. Getting a new toothbrush Lincoln used it to scrub down Leonidas. At first the Darkus Bakugan protested to this but then found the act to be quite relaxing and felt great! So, he allowed it. After that it was a simple matter of eating some cereal and heading out the door.

* * *

"Alright Juggernoid! **Death Tornado!**" Currently in a Bakugan battlefield, two players were having a battle. One was a Pyrus user and the other one, who called out the ability on the Juggernoid, was an Aquos brawler with bright spiky red hair, tan skinned, and a sleeveless blue jacket with a light seafoam green shirt and a chain neckless.

The Aquo's Juggernoid's power increased from the ability as a torrent of water was created from Juggernoid that drew in his opponents Pyrus Stinglash and proceeded to defeat it.

The battlefield around them closed as the red-haired kid caught his bakugan in his hand and smirked. "Ha, better luck next time kid." The red hair said in a cocky tone to his opponent.

"Next time?" The kid in front of the Aquos brawler questioned as he picked up his Bakugan. "No way! You got my Bakugan man!"

"Yeah tough break." The Aquos brawler shrugged off as he checked his Baku-pod. "You win some you loss some right? As for me I always win."

"_Halo Sector Points up 1-5-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod explained as it showed how much ranking points that battle earned the red head.

However, this didn't seem to please the Aquos brawler as he looked at the kid in front of him as well as the other boys behind him. "What! 150?!" The Aquos battler yelled. "What a total rip off!"

"Man, what a sore winner." The kid the Aquos brawler just beat said in response.

"And such a drama queen." A kid with glasses added in,

"What do you want Ricky?" A brown-haired kid asked, saying the Aquos Brawlers name. "You beat all three of us.

Ricky simply grunted in response before walking away. About 10 minutes in Ricky's walk, he was seen walking through the woods talking to himself. "What a waste of time." Ricky said, referring to the three boys he just defeated. "There's nobody around here that can beat me. You think that if you were gonna face someone as good as me that you'd at least bring a decent Bakugan to the battle."

Ricky then stopped walking as he took a look around his surroundings. "It's so lame, what's a guy gotta do to get some real competition?" The red head looked clenched his fist and yelled. "Hey! Anyone out there wanna do battle with me?!"

"_You looking for a real challenge?"_

Suddenly Ricky froze as the echoey voice was followed by a chilling breeze that gave him goosebumps.

Suddenly Ricky heard the sound of something being thrown behind him and quickly turned around and caught the incoming object. Looking at what he caught, Ricky saw that it was an Aquos Bakugan that was thrown at him. "I've seen this one on the web." Ricky said as he recognized the Bakugan from people showing off their own of it online.

Ricky then looked up and gasp as he saw someone leaning against the tree in front of him while standing on a branch. And this someone…was Masquerade.

"You want it?" The Darkus brawler asked the red headed boy. "It's got all the power you'll ever need."

Ricky hummed in interest as he looked at the Bakugan in his hand again. "Really?" The Aquos brawler muttered with a brow raised in interest.

"I wouldn't lie to you." Masquerade state with a small smirk. "Try it out and see for yourself. I know you're gonna like it." Another breeze came by blowing some leaves away and when Ricky looked up again, he gasped as he saw that Masquerade had vanished.

"Hey, where'd you go? Come back!" Ricky yelled as he looked around in all directions. "Come back!"

* * *

"And you were saying _we'd _be late." Leonidas growled in irritation as he and Lincoln sat down at the fountain with Lincoln having an annoyed expression on his face. "Could've gotten those extra 5 minutes after all."

"Come on Dan." Lincoln muttered as he looked at his Baku-pod to check the time. "This is late, even for you."

"Wait! I'm here! I'm here!" Both Darkus Bakugan and Darkus Brawler looked to the side to see Dan running towards them as fast as he could. Once the Pyrus user came up to them, he rested his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths with Lincoln standing up and Leonidas hopping onto his partners shoulder. "Sorry…got a little caught up in training."

"What he means is that he forgot to see his alarm." Suddenly Drago poked his head out of one of the pockets on Dan's jacket. "Didn't wake up until his mom came into his room and shouted at him to get his butt out of bed."

Dan blushed in embarrassment as Lincoln and Leonidas started laughing their butts off. "Come on Drago! You were supposed to keep that a secret!" Dan yelled at his partner before sighing in irritation.

"Ok, not so upset anymore." Lincoln said with a chuckle as he shook his head. "That was too good."

"Aw, did your mommy also pack a lunch for you Dan? Ahahahaha!" Leonidas laughed from Lincoln's shoulder.

Dan growled as he glared at Leonidas. "Your Bakugan's a real jerk ya know that right?" Dan told his white-haired friend.

Lincoln simply shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. "Relax Dan's he's just teasing a little." Lincoln said in defense to his partner. "He's just a little rough around the edges is all."

"Well anyway," Dan said, deciding to just drop the subject of Leonidas's attitude, as he looked into Lincoln's eyes. "You guys ready to start training?"

"Heck yeah!" Lincoln cheered with a pumped-up fist. "We gotta get as strong as possible if we're gonna take on Masquerade again!"

"Masquerade…" Leonidas said with a low growl to his voice. Lincoln has told Leonidas about Masquerade and his and Dan's goal to put a stop to him. "Whenever I hear that name…I get angry. I wanna fight him."

"Hey, that's the spirit bud!" Lincoln cheered on his partner with a thumbs up. "Trust me I wanna fight him to, but we should probably be as prepared as we can be if we're gonna fight him so let's work on building up our own strength first."

Leonidas grunted, but nodded in response. Meanwhile Drago kept a close eye on Leonidas and his actions and response's. Especially after what he and Dan talked about last night…

* * *

_**THE OTHER DAY**_

_Dan entered his room and quickly tossed his backpack onto his bed. Thankfully they got no homework today so he didn't need to worry about that today and he could just enjoy himself._

_Once he closed the door, Dan quickly went to his desk and sat down before reaching into his pocket and pulling Drago out and seeing the Pyrus Bakugan next to his keyboard. "Well today was quite the day huh bud?" Dan asked as Drago popped out._

"_Yes…" Drago said slowly. The Dragonoid then looked up at Dan and decided to discuss something that's been on his mind all day. "Dan, I need to talk to you about something. About Leonidas."_

_Dan hummed in interest at hearing the name of Lincoln's new partner. "Yeah what about the guy Drago?" Dan asked with a curious tone. "You know him or something?"_

"_Quite the opposite actually." Drago informed the Pyrus brawler. "I've never seen Leonidas before. I've never even heard of him or even a Bakugan like him. I have absolutely no information about him whats so ever."_

"_Huh, that's kinda weird." Dan commented, not seeing what the big deal was. "Maybe he's just from a different neck of the woods ya know? Its not like I know every human on earth."_

"_That's not just it." Drago continued. "When I was around him, the negative energy that was within him…it was…I don't even know how to describe it. It's like he was made of negative energy itself!"_

"_Negative energy?" Dan repeated in a confused tone. "Drago what are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with Leonidas? I mean yeah I'll admit he's kind of a jerk but you're kinda cutting deep don't ya think?"_

"_Well…I…nevermind. It's nothing." Drago decided to just drop it since Dan really has no idea of the things Drago was referring to. "I'm just suggesting we keep an eye on Leonidas is all. Just in case."_

"_Well…I guess so. If that'll make ya more comfortable." Dan said with a smile as he picked up Drago and put him in his palm. "I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to just keep a peak at him."_

"_Thank Daniel." Drago said as he looked Dan right in the eye. "I appreciate it."_

* * *

It was sundown as Lincoln made his way back home. He and Dan spent all day at the park getting Brawls in. Of course, one of their first opponents was Shuji who was still trying to beat the two of them and of course failing horribly. Both Pyrus and Darkus users got in the same amount of battles and didn't lose a single one with Drago getting a front row seat to seeing how powerful Leonidas was as well as how aggressive the Darkus Bakugan was.

And by the end of the day, both Brawlers simply headed home and agreed to set up a chat room with their other friends later as well. So, Lincoln simply went back to the Loud House, but when he entered, he was pretty surprised to see Lucy and her best friend Haiku sitting there on the couch. "Oh, I didn't expect to see you guys here." Lincoln said as he entered the house and looked at the two goths. "Hey Haiku, good to see you again."

"Thanks." Haiku said in her usual monotone voice.

"We're watching Vampires of Melancholia." Lucy told her older brother with a similar monotone voice she was known for. "Theirs a new episode today."

"Wait, I thought new episodes were on Friday?" Lincoln asked with a confused expression. He knew that Lucy had the TV reserved every Friday night to watch her vampire shows with Lori and Leni recently joining in.

"It's a special three parter." Haiku informed the Loud Boy. "They've released the episodes the very next day as a special. Lucy invited me over to watch part three with her."

"Ah ok." Lincoln said now with better understanding of the situation. "Well, don't mind me, just got back from getting some brawls in at the park so just gonna grab a snack and head up to my room and start chatting with the guys."

Just then Haiku watched as a Bakugan that was on Lincoln's shoulder for some reason hopped of it all on its own and landed on the coffee table before opening up and looking at the Loud boy. "Just none of that health junk your sister gets." Leonidas told Lincoln, causing Haiku's eyes to widen a bit in surprise. "I swear that stuff smells worse than trash. Taste worse than it smells to."

"I warned you not to eat it." Lincoln told his partner with an eye roll. "Relax, I'll get something good." The three then watched as Lincoln made his way into the kitchen.

After that, Haiku turned her attention back to Leonidas with her usual expression broken just slightly to show a bit of surprise. "So…did that Bakugan just-"

"Talk? Yes, I did." Leonidas finished with annoyance in his voice. "I don't get why that is such a big deal to you humans. If anything, I should be the one surprised you hairless apes can manage to speak."

"Ignore him." Lucy told her best friend as she focused on the TV rather then the Bakugan's rude speech. "Lincoln's Bakugan is just rude."

Haiku looked to Lucy for a moment but then directed her attention back to Leonidas and went to pick the Bakugan up. "Hey! You said you could touch me human!" Leonidas yelled as the 11-year-old goth put the Darkus Bakugan in her palm.

"Sorry, just wanted to ask a question." Haiku told the Bakugan as she looked Leonidas in the eyes the best she could given the size difference between the two. "The other day when Lincoln battled Bruno, he ran away saying Lincoln's Bakugan was a monster. Would that happen to, be you?"

"Hmph, yes." Leonidas answered with a grunt. "I completely crush him and his weak Bakugan. Its only understandable that he'd run crying to his mommy."

"Wait, what's this all about?" Lucy asked as she turned to the two. "That about Bruno."

"He was yelling at this girl the other day." Leonidas summarized as he recalled the events of the other day. "So, the kid stepped up so we could kick his ass. I gotta say he was all bark and no bite. Didn't even put up a challenge."

"Huh?" Lucy hummed in interest as she looked at Haiku through her bangs. "I didn't know Lincoln stood up for you."

"Yeah." Haiku said with a tiny smile coming to her face. "He helped me out. Beat Druno in a brawl and picked up my books."

"Yeah well the kids got a big heart." Leonidas added in after Haiku explained what happened to Lucy. "Guess he can't help but stand up and help others. Don't understand why but whatever, as least he's got good battling skills."

"Hmmmmm." Haiku hummed in interest at Leonidas's words.

"Alright I'm back. And I got pudding." The three then watched as Lincoln came back into the room holding a pudding cup and a spoon. "What'd I miss."

"Nothing." Haiku quickly responded with. "Just talking."

"Hm, ok." Lincoln said with a smile. "Come on Leonidas, let's go check up on the guys." Lincoln then used his free hand to pick up Leonidas from Haiku's hand. But in doing so, his hand brushed against Haiku's gloved hand. This caused the 11-year-old girls' pale white cheeks to gain a noticeable light pink blush on them.

Lincoln then placed Leonidas back on his shoulder and gave a salute to the two goths. "Well, I'll leave you ladies to your vampires." The white head told them before heading upstairs.

"See you later Lincoln." Lucy told her brother as she saw Lincoln disappear up the stairs. Just then the 8-year-old goth looked to her fellow 11-year-old goth best friend. "Are you ok?"

Haiku snapped out of her sudden trance and lightly smacked her cheeks to get rid of her blush. Once it was gone Haiku looked back at Lucy with her monotone look back on her face. "Sorry. I was just thinking. Let's get back to watching." With that said, the two goths went back to watching their favorite show.

* * *

"Well its good to hear that you and Drago are working more as a team." Alice said as currently Lincoln and Leonidas were now in their room, with Lincoln now referring to the room as both his and Leonidas's, talking with their friends on the computer with Dan, Alice, Marucho, and Julie currently online and chatting.

"Yeah you should see them battle." Lincoln told the group as Leonidas sat on the laptop and looked up at the screen. "They were unstoppable! Heck, I bet that could give me and Leo a run for our money."

"What's that supposed to mean Linc?" Dan yelled while looking Lincoln right in the eye.

"What he means to say is that we could crush you two." Leonidas added in as he looked up at Dan's chat box. "It would be easy to pound you and that Dragonoid into dust."

"Oh yeah!" Dan yelled at the Darkus Bakugan. "Well why don't you two put your money where your mouth is!?"

Lincoln sighed and sweat dropped as once again Leonidas was picking fights with his friends. "Alright calm down boys." Luckily Julie came in to be peace maker. "Let's not start any fights when everyone is getting along."

"Yeah just calm down Dan." Alice told the Pyrus user in a gentle tone. "No need to get heated."

Dan sighed in response and leaned back in his chair. "Alright Alice, sorry." Dan said as the ginger haired girl smiled sweetly at him. No matter how hot headed and angry Dan got Alice always seemed to be able to calm the Pyrus user down.

"Well, if I could give my thoughts-" Marucho was saying before being interrupted by-

"Hey guys! Big news! Big news!" Suddenly Runo came into the chat cutting off Marucho and telling everything that she had something important to say.

"Uh, what is it Runo?" Marucho asked with a sweat drop and sheepish smile.

Runo then gained a bright smile as she held her hands out to the screen and showed off in her hands was a Haos Bakugan ball that resembled a tiger. "Check it out! I got myself a talking Bakugan." Runo informed her fellow brawlers. "My wish came true."

Everyone gasped and looked to the Haos Bakugan with eyes of curiosity. Marucho adjusted his glasses as he examined the Bakugan. "Ah yes, that appears to be-"

"Tigrerra!" Runo said, once again cutting of Marucho.

"Its attribute is light. It's a Haos Tigrerra." Alice explained as she looked at the Bakugan with a small and sweet smile.

"Oh, I'm so excited." Runo gushed with the happiest tone any of her friends have ever heard her speak with. "This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

"Must not be a very high bar." Leonidas grunt as he looked up at Tigrerra.

"YOU BE QUIET!" Runo yelled at the Darkus Bakugan.

"Alright chill out everyone." Dan said, surprisingly taking on peace maker, as he looked at Tigerra. "Let's hear it speak." Dan then raised a hand to wave at the Haos Bakugan. "Hey there. I'm Dan hi."

"Greetings human." Tigrerra responded with a female voice.

Everyone smiled widely once they heard the Bakugan spoke as Runo started to nuzzle Tigrerra with her cheek. "Oh isn't she just the greatest!" The blue haired girl gushed over the Bakugan.

"Now you know how me and Linc feel." Dan said with a chuckle before putting on a smirk. "Looks like our little team of Battle Brawlers is getting stronger every day."

"Oh yeah!" Runo said as she continued to gush over Tigrerra.

"You know it." Lincoln cheered with a pumped-up fist as Leonidas gave a battle ready growl.

"And you know, I think its about time someone takes Masquerade and his cheap Halloween costume down." Dan said with a determined grin. "And I think that someone is me!"

"Or me!" Runo said. "It all matters who gets to him first."

"Hey now you two already got your chance to fight Masquerade." Lincoln interjected as he gave a fierce and battle-ready look. "I think its me and Leonidas's turn to try and take on Masquerade."

"Yes. I want to destroy him!" Leonidas said with a vicious tone.

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see who confronts him first." Marucho said as all the Brawlers nodded in agreement.

* * *

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

Currently both Lincoln and Dan were jogging along the side of a bridge. Both decided to meet up there after school and get some training in. "You two are in high spirits!" Drago commented from Dan's vest pocket.

"Why shouldn't we be Drago?" Dan said with a determined smirk.

"Gotta keep our mind and bodies in shape if we're gonna take on that creep Masquerade." Lincoln added as he and Dan kept up their jog. "Make sure we don't get rusty ya know!"

"Indeed." Leonidas agreed from Lincoln's shoulder. "When I face Masquerade, I wanna make sure to be at 100% power so I can annihilate without question!"

"Yeah that's the spirit Leonidas!" Dan complimented, liking the Darkus's Bakugans fighting spirit and drive for battle. "Plus, it's a beautiful day for a Bakugan battle! If that creep Masquerade shows up he'll be sorry!"

But just then a chilling breeze blew past the Pyrus and Darkus Brawlers. "Somethings not right!" Drago informed the two as he felt a dark presence follow with the wind.

"Yes. I feel it as well." Leonidas said in a suspicious tone.

Just then Dan and Lincoln stopped as their eyes came across someone standing right in front of them. Looking like he was actually waiting for them. It was none other then Ricky. "Hey, are you Dan Kuso and Lincoln Loud?" Ricky asked the two boys in front of him. If one were to pay attention, it seems as though Ricky's voice had a bit of a haunting echo to it.

"Yeah, that's us." Lincoln told the red headed boy.

"Who wants to know?" Leonidas followed up with a growl.

"My name is Ricky Maru." Ricky introduced himself as he pointed a thumb at himself. He then pointed at the Pyrus and Darkus users in front of him and said, "And I've come to do battle with you two!"

Lincoln and Dan's eyes widened a tiny bit as they looked to each other. After a moment they looked to Ricky with smirks on their faces. "Alright, if your game then so am I!" Dan said with a battle-ready smirk.

"I should warn ya though, we're pretty good." Lincoln informed the Aquos Brawler with a confident look. "So, I hope you're ready."

"be careful you two." Drago told the two humans. "Somethings not right about this."

"What's wrong Drago?" Leonidas said a bit of a mocking tone. "Don't tell me you're scared."

Suddenly they heard Ricky chuckle and watched him pull out two Bakugan cards with one being hidden behind the other. "You two won't be so cocky once I see the cards I have." Just then Ricky slid the two cards apart so that Lincoln and Dan could see the second card he had.

The Doom Card!

"What?!" Dan yelled in surprise.

"The Doom Card!" Drago yelled as they laid they're eyes upon the card that lead the Bakugan to Hell.

"Woah, what's that?" Lincoln asked in a confused yet worried tone as even though he didn't know what it was.

"…No…" Leonidas let out quietly as he stared at the card.

"That's the Doom Card." Drago answered for Lincoln. "When that card is placed on the field, the Bakugan defeated are sent to the Doom Dimension for all eternity…and ultimately meet their demise."

"That was the card Masquerade used!" Dan yelled as Lincoln's looked at the Doom Card with newfound dread after hearing what exactly what that card was capable of.

"This is bad…" Lincoln muttered with fear in his voice. The Loud boy then looked to his partner and asked. "What do we do Leo-woah, are you ok?"

Currently Leonidas was growling viciously, almost beast-like, as he started to glow purple with his eyes glowing and his gaze set only on the Doom card. "Lincoln…" Leonidas let out viciously. "We have to destroy this guy!"

"Leonidas are you ok?" Lincoln asked with a concerned and worried tone. "You're acting a lot more aggressive then normal." Leonidas's only response was letting out another vicious growl.

"Well I agree with him!" Dan said as he pulled out a field card. "This guy is obviously connected to Masquerade somehow so that means we gotta take em down! Alright, I'm ready when you are."

"Hey, hold on," Lincoln intervened as he pulled out his own field card. "Who says you get to fight him?"

"Uh, I did." Dan answered like it was obvious. "I said I was gonna be the one to beat Masquerade and since this guy is working for that creep then that means I have to take him down."

"But look at his launcher." Lincoln said as he pointed to the launcher on Ricky's arm. It was identical to Masquerade's only Ricky's was a black and blue instead of black and purple. "I bet he's an Aquos user and my Darkus has a better chance of beating him then your Pyrus."

"I said I'm battling him and that's that!" Dan yelled making Lincoln give an annoyed glare to his friend.

"How about this." Ricky said with a grin as the Pyrus and Darkus user looked to him. "I'll take you both on! Masquerade wants me to deal with both of ya, so this'll just be taking out two birds with one stone!"

Both Dan and Lincoln looked at Ricky with surprised expressions on their face before turning to each other. Both then smirked as they raised up their field cards. "Well alright, if you wanna get beaten that badly then we'll both gladly take you on."

"Got that right!" Lincoln said before turning to Leonidas. "Ready partner?"

"More then you know." Leonidas said with a battle-ready tone.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" The three brawlers then rose up their cards as they all glowed, with Ricky's glowing blue, as the Bakugan Field opened.

"**Gate Card set!**" Ricky, Dan, and Lincoln then jumped up and threw their gate cards onto the field with Ricky's landing in front of Lincoln, Dan's going in front of Ricky's, and Lincoln's landing to the left of Dan's.

Ricky then held up the Doom Card. "**Doom Card set!**" Ricky then threw the Doom Card into the field and just like with Masquerade the card pierced into the field like a knife before being absorbed completely into the ground.

Lincoln watched as a wave of purple energy spread throughout the field. A chill went through Lincoln's spine as the energy wave passed him. "This doesn't feel right." Lincoln shivered before looking to his partner. "Leonidas?"

"Grrrrrr…" Leonidas growled viciously.

"Well what are you waiting for?!" Dan yelled while looking Ricky right in the eyes. "Let's get this started already!"

"Hey I like your style." Ricky said with a smirk before grabbing a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**"Rick then threw the card right next to his original card where it expanded and made a square of gate cards in the field.

Ricky then grabbed an Aquos Bakugan and threw it towards his original gate card. "Bakugan Brawl!" The Bakugan then stood on the gate card it was threw out. "Aquos Robotallion stand!" The Bakugan then glowed as an Aquos Robotallion was unleased onto the battlefield.

"Looks like I was right." Lincoln said as he looked up at Robotallion. "Since his attribute is water, that means he's gotta have a lot of tricks up his sleeves."

"He's right Dan." Drago said as he flew next to Dan's head. "We should wait and see what his next move is."

"Ugh! There's not time for that!" Dan growled as he grabbed a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Dan then threw his gate card right next to Ricky's second gate card. Dan then grabbed one of his Pyrus Bakugan and reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then threw the ball at the Gate Card he just set out. "Pyrus Falconeer stand!" The Bakugan glowed red as a tornado of fire emerged as a Pyrus Falconeer flew up high above the gate card. "Alright now we're in the game!"

"Dan would you be patient please!" Lincoln yelled to his battle partner. "We can't just do things willy nilly, especially if our Bakugan are at stake! We have to play smart."

"Heh, right where I want you." Ricky muttered with a smirk. "**Gate Card set!** Rick then threw a third gate card onto the field with it landing next to Lincoln's gate card. "Bakugan Brawl!" Ricky then threw another one of this Aquos Bakugan on the new gate card. "Aquos Juggernoid stand!" The ball then opened up as the giant turtle Bakugan was sent out into battle.

Dan looked in confusion as Ricky has already put out 3 gate cards and 2 of his 3 Bakugan onto the field and completely ignoring his and Lincoln's cards/Bakugan. "This doesn't make any sense. Why has he sent so much of his stuff out near the beginning. It makes no sense."

"You couldn't be more wrong Dan. It makes perfect sense." Lincoln said grimily as he eyed both Bakugan. "I know what he's doing Dan and its not good." Dan then watched as Lincoln took out of his Darkus Bakugan. "I know what to do but you have to leave it to me."

"You should listen to him Dan." Drago told the Pyrus user. "This is a dangerous situation."

"If it's dangerous then we should take care of it quickly!" Dan said before throwing a gate card right next to the one his Falconeer was one. "Don't worry I got this!" He then took out his 2nd Pyrus Bakugan and threw it. "Bakugan Brawl!"

"No! Not that one!" Drago yelled as Dan gasped.

"Dan what are you doing?!" Lincoln yelled while glaring at the Pyrus user. "I said leave it to me! You just made this worst!" It was two late to take it back as a Pyrus Griffon stood on the Gate Card Dan just threw down.

"Perfect." Ricky said as he held up the very Aquos Bakugan Masquerade gifted him with. "Time to wash you all away! Bakugan Brawl!" Rick then threw the Bakugan at the 2nd gate card he threw down. "Aquos Siege stand!"

"Oh no you don't!" Lincoln yelled as he reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then threw the Bakugan towards his own gate card on the field. "Darkus Monarus stand!" Lincoln's Bakugan then stood on the gate card and put his Darkus Monarus into the battle.

"Bad move kid!" Ricky said as he pulled out a card. "**Ability Card Activate: Tsunami Wave!**" Siege's eyes then glowed brightly as it started twirling its spear around. Suddenly giant waves appeared near the battlefield and were quickly approaching, treating to bring all Bakugan with it.

"I knew it! Well not on my watch!" Lincoln yelled as he pulled out his own ability card. "**Counter Ability Activate: Darkus Powder!**" Lincoln's Monarus's wings then started glowing as the butterfly Bakugan started spinning around to the point of looking like a spinning blur. A black dust then started being produce from Monarus's wings and spread all over the field.

Suddenly the waves approaching the field started lowering before completely disappearing and drying up the field. Ricky's jaw dropped as he watched his attack completely disappear. "NO WAY!" The Aquos user yelled in disbelief. "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"The Darkus Powder ability." Lincoln explained as he showed Ricky the card. "Its an ability exclusive to Darkus Monarus and completely nullifies any and all abilities on the field no matter what side their one. Its pretty much a reset button."

"That was a close one." Drago said as before looking to Dan. "Had you been paying attention you would've realized that he was trying to start a Tsunami wave! A special ability only Siege can use when there are two other Aquos Bakugan on the field. The cost, it takes everyone out. Even its allies. If it had been completed, then all the Bakugan except for Siege would have been sent to the Doom Dimension!"

"That's why I told you to stop!" Lincoln yelled harshly at Dan. "He was wanting us to put more Bakugan on the field so he can pretty much pull of a kamikaze!"

"Hey chill out would ya." Dan said as he raised his hands up. "It worked out in the end. You put a stop to it so no big deal."

"But what if he wasn't here Dan! What then?!" Drago yelled at his partner as Dan's eyes widened as an image of all his Bakugan being sent to the Doom Dimension appeared in his head. "You were being to reckless and if Lincoln wasn't here then all those Bakugan, my friends, would've been sent to the Doom Dimension."

"He's right Dan." Lincoln said as he looked back at the battlefield. "You can't think of this as just a game or the Bakugan as just pieces anymore. We have to play and think carefully and protect them."

"Look I'm sorry alright." Dan huffed as he crossed his arms. "I'll be more careful from now on ok."

"Dan maybe you should just leave the rest of this to me." Lincoln said as he grabbed Leonidas. "Ready Leonidas?"

"What?" Dan gasped in response.

"Send me in." Leonidas told his partner before going into ball form.

Lincoln nodded before rearing his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Leonidas at the gate card Siege was on. "Leonidas stand!"

Leonidas let out a roar as he was released from ball form and glared right at the Aquos Siege. "I'll be damned before I lose to you!" The Darkus Bakugan roared.

Ricky gritted his teeth as he checked his Baku-pod. "_Aquos Siege stands at 3-4-0 G's. Darkus Leonidas enters battle at 4-0-0 G's."_

"400 G's! Impossible!" Ricky yelled as terrified look came to his face. The red head then growled as he as glared at Leonidas. '_Alright don't panic. I just have to hope my gate card opens before Siege can be defeated.'_

"Let me guess, thinking about you're gate card?" Lincoln yelled at the red haired causing him to gasp. "Well sorry buddy but no dice! **Ability Activate: Nightmare Shredder!**" Leonidas growled as his claws started glowing and extended to great lengths. The Darkus Bakugan then raised up his hands and proceeded to stab his claws into the ground.

"Let's see how you handle this!" Leonidas roared as the Gate Card started cracking before completely shattering.

"NO!" Ricky yelled as he watched his gate card be destroyed.

"Sorry buddy, but nightmare shredder is one of three of Leonidas's unique abilities. It can completely nullify any gate card its one even when it hasn't been activated."

"I'm in trouble!" Ricky yelled as Leonidas charged at Siege.

"Now you die!" Leonidas roared as he slashed Siege across the chest with both hands. Siege was sent flying back before glowing blue and returning to ball form. In turn, Leonidas glowed purple before turning back into a ball and landing in Lincoln's hand.

"But…But he said that Siege was all I'd need." Ricky said as he watched Siege drop to his feet. The red head then gritted his teeth as he picked up the Aquos Bakugan. "He…lied to me!" Ricky then grabbed an ability card. "Well this isn't over yet! **Ability Card Activate: Dive Mirage!**"

Suddenly the card under Ricky's Juggernoid started to ripple like water before the turtle Bakugan suddenly dived down under the field like it was water. "Go after Griffon!" Ricky ordered as they were able to see that the outline of Juggernoid swam under the field and towards Griffon.

"_Aquos Juggernoid at 3-3-0 G's. Pyrus Griffon at 3-0-0 G's._" The Baku-pod explained as it showed a 30 G power difference between the two Bakugan.

"Ha! No problem! **Gate Card Open!**" Dan yelled as he raised up his hand.

…

Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Dan gasped in surprised as his gate card didn't open to his command. "Why won't my gate card open?"

"Hehehehe, that's Dive Mirage for ya." Ricky said with a smirk. "It lets my Bakugan move anywhere on the field and prevents my opponent from opening the gate card! Now say goodbye to your Griffon!"

"Nooooo!" Dan yelled as Juggernoid jumped up from under Griffons gate card and was about to attack the Pyrus Bakugan when-

"**Ability Activate!**" Suddenly Lincoln came to the rescue as he held up an ability card. "**Darkus Gravity!**"

Suddenly Leonidas started glowing as he floated up into the air and, without Lincoln needing to throw him, was sent flying towards Griffon's gate card and was promptly unleashed onto the battle. Once Leonidas was in, he easily grabbed Juggernoid before the Aquos Bakugan could attack Griffon.

"Going somewhere?" Leonidas growled as he rose Juggernoid up and proceeded to throw the turtle to the ground and following up by slamming his tail against Juggenoid and making the turtle Bakugan glow and return into a ball.

"Seriously?!" Ricky yelled as Juggernoid landed at his feet.

Leonidas and Griffon then glowed their respective colors as they were returned to ball form and went back to their respective brawlers' hands. "Woah what was that?" Dan asked as he caught Griffon.

"It's a Darkus exclusive ability." Lincoln explained with closed eyes as he caught Leonidas. "It lets me send any Darkus Bakugan onto any gate card I want. So in other words, I just saved you're Bakugan again."

"This is why we warned you Dan." Drago said in a low tone as he looked at the battlefield. "You sent in too many Bakugan at once and put them at risk multiple times. If it wasn't for Lincoln, they all would have been doom for all eternity. You're being to reckless. You're not taking this seriously. This isn't just a game!"

Dan growled in annoyance at once again hearing his supposed friends scold him on his behavior in battle. "Would you both just shut up! I get it alright! I'll be more careful!" Dan yelled as he's had enough criticism for one day.

"When Dan?" Lincoln asked as he gave the Pyrus user a harsh look. "How many Bakugan do we and everyone else in the world need to lose before you start taking this more seriously?"

"I…" Dan struggled to think of a response.

Lincoln simply gave a 'tch' in response as Leonidas spoke up. "Let's finish this." Leonidas told his partner who nodded in response.

"With pleasure." Lincoln said as he rose up his hand. "**Gate Card Open: Warp Gate!**" The card Monarus was one started glowing when suddenly Lincoln's Monarus was teleported from the original gate card to the gate card Robotallion was on. "Warp Zone is a command card that allows any Bakugan that's one the gate card to teleport to any gate card on the field."

"_Advantage Monarus." _The Baku-Pod said as it showed Robotallion at 320 G's and Monarus at 330 G's.

"Finish him Monarus!" Lincoln yelled as Monarus round house kicked Robotallion.

"NOOOOOO!" Ricky yelled as Robotallion started falling and started reverting back to a ball when-

* * *

"No…I lost…" Ricky said as he was now on his knees with Lincoln catching Monarus in his hand.

"You're done." Lincoln said as he looked down at Ricky. "Word of advice stay away from Masquerade. He's nothing but bad news."

"Yeah…not to mention how much he scammed me." Ricky said as he held up his Aquos Siege. "He said that Siege would have all the power I need. That if I win, I could keep him. But you totally stomped me."

"So, Masquerade did it again huh?" Dan commented with a tightened fist. "He tried to take advantage of you and made you fight his battle. I don't know what he's trying to prove but we're gonna find out right Lincoln…Lincoln?"

Dan looked around and noticed a lack of a certain white-haired boy around him. Turning around, he looked to see that Lincoln was walking away. "Hey Linc wait up!" Dan yelled as he started running towards his friend. "Where ya going man?"

"Home." Lincoln said simply as he stopped walking.

"Hey man why so down in the dumps?" Dan asked with a smirk on his face. "We won!"

"_We _won?" Lincoln repeated as he turned his head to give Dan a rather annoyed look. "Pretty strong choice of words considering _I _did all the heavy lifting in this."

"Are you seriously going on about this again?" Dan asked in an annoyed tone as he lightly glared at Lincoln. "Look I messed up but I'll do better next time. I just messed up a little no big deal."

"No big deal? Are you kidding me?!" Lincoln yelled as he turned around to face Dan completely. "Dan, if I wasn't here then your Bakugan would be in the Doom Dimension!"

"He's right." Leonidas said from Lincoln's shoulder. "You had a completely lack of stradegy."

"Seriously?" Dan said with irritation. "You're both against me?"

"Look Dan, most of the time, you simply use pure power and raising G's to overpower opponents, but you don't think of their long-term strategies and plans and simply try to think out each individual battle." Lincoln explained his friends battling style. "I'm not gonna be able to help out every battle Dan, and if I wasn't here today that Siege would have washed away all your and even his Bakugan to the Doom Dimension with that Tsunami wave."

"What are you saying my brawling skills suck!?" Dan yelled as his hot-headed temper flared up as he glared at the white head.

"…Think about it." Lincoln said as he turned around again and started walking away. "I'm heading home. I'm tired."

Dan then watched as Lincoln continued walking away. The Pyrus user then growled as he yelled in Lincoln's direction. "FINE! WHO NEEDS YA ANYWAY! I CAN TAKE ON MASQUERADE ALL ON MY OWN!" Dan then brought Drago up to his face. "At least I got you right Drago."

"…"

"Drago?" Dan asked in a quiet tone. Why was Drago giving him the silent treatment again? He thought they were pass this. What's wrong.

"He's completely right." Drago finally spoke up. Stating Lincoln's claims to Dan to be true. "Dan you simply don't get it. I could've lost so many of my friends today. When a Bakugan is sent to the Doom Dimension they can not come back. I can't begin to describe what that's like but you don't even seem to care. You just threw them in without any regard or care for their wellbeing and they could have been lost. Even your friend gets it. He thought ahead and thought of keeping them safe as his top priority but all you cared about was defeating your opponent at any cost. It's obvious you think of Bakugan as nothing but a game. I thought you were different. But I can't trust you."

"No…that's not…true…" Dan said as the hand he had Drago in started shaking after the Pyrus Bakugan gave his harsh words. "I can be trusted. We're a team, right? We work together."

"…"

"Remember the day we made that deal? I don't know what you're getting so wound up about. I've been straight with you all along."

"…"

"Sure, there are things I don't understand about the Bakugans, but that's no reason to give up on me. I get pumped up every time we face a new player and you should to. Don't bail on me now."

"…"

"We can do this! If you more say in what goes down, you got it! I just want us to work as a team to take down Masquerade! That benefits us both right? This is twisted. I thought we were a team. But first it was Lincoln but now it seems you wanna go solo to…"

Dan then clenched his fist with Drago in it as he looked at the river below the bridge he was on. "Well…I won't stand if your way Drago. If that's what you want then I guess our deal is done! ITS OVER!"

Dan then reared his hand back…

_And threw Drago into the river_

Dan watched as Drago was sent flying through the air before landing at the bottom of the river with a splash.

"So long buddy…" Dan said quietly with his hair shadowing his eyes. "Its over. We're finished. It was nice knowing ya. But we're through. But this is goodbye!"

"GOODBYE FOREVER!"

* * *

Lori was currently sitting by herself on the couch. Currently she was doing one of her favorite things. Texting her boyfriend Bobby. Lori seemed to really be into it as she had a giddy smile as she read another text her boyfriend sent her.

Just then she heard the door open and looked to see her little brother finally come home. "Hey Lincoln, whats…up?" Lori was smiling at first when her brother came home but then frowned when she saw that Lincoln seemed to be in a bit of a foul mood. "Hey, are you ok."

"I'm fine…" Lincoln responded in a low and quiet tone. Lori watched in concern as Lincoln started going up the stairs. "I just…had a long day is all."

"Hey…if you need to talk about anything you know I'm here. Right?" Lori asked as she looked up at her brother.

Lincoln stopped for a brief moment and turned his head to give his older sister a fake smile. "Yeah, I do. Thanks Lori." Lincoln said before heading to his room.

Lori's concern only grew.

Once Lincoln was in his room, he quickly put Leonidas and crash into bed face first. Leonidas opened up and looked towards Lincoln. "Hey kid." Leonidas said to his partner. "You ok?"

"…"

"Kid?"

Lincoln was silent for another moment before finally saying. "Leonidas…can I ask you a question."

"Shoot." Leonidas simply said.

"…Are we friends?" Lincoln asked as he peaked an eye at Leonidas.

"W-What?" Leonidas stuttered. He wasn't really expecting a question like that.

"I'm just wondering…if you really thinking of me as a friend and partner." Lincoln explained to the Darkus Bakugan. "Do you really trust me…or do you just use me to get into brawls and fight other Bakugan?"

"…Well…" Leonidas was struggling. He didn't know how to answer this properly. '_Come on Leonidas, think of a way out of this. Just give the kid a simple answer and-"_

"If you don't wanna answer…that's ok." Lincoln said, cutting off Leonidas's thoughts. "I was just curious is all. I suppose I should just consider myself lucky to have you in the first place." Lincoln then gave a small smile to the Darkus Bakugan. "Thanks for being my partner Leonidas. I think I'm gonna turn in for the day. Good night."

Leonidas then watched as Lincoln pulled a blanket over himself, not bothering to take off any of his cloths or put on any PJ's and started to go to sleep. "Yeah…night kid…" Leonidas said in a quiet and rather confused tone before closing back up.

* * *

_**Gotta love those parts that set up character development. This is what set's Bakugan apart from other shows like Pokemon. Their's true character development that isn't lost after a handful of episodes and sticks through the whole series. I like the Pokemon anime, but imo Bakugan is loads better. And similar to the actual show this is only gonna get better and better so remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for...**_

_**"Dan and Drago, Lincoln and Leonidas."**_


	6. Dan and Drago, Lincoln and Leonidas

_**So this is both my longest chapter so far and probably my favorite. I wrote so much here that I enjoyed and its gonna lead to a lot of stuff in the end of thing. Plus, who doesn't love character developing chapter! I won't waste anymore of your time! I hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

Lincoln groaned as he started to wake from his sleep. Sitting up, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he let out a yawn. "What time is it?" Lincoln asked himself as he looked out his window and saw that it was still night out. Lincoln saw that he was still in his cloths from yesterday since he didn't bother to change into PJ's when he made it home the other day. Once he was off his bed, he looked to his desk-drawer and looked at his clock.

_5:00 AM_

"Five in the morning? Geez," Lincoln muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes again. He really shouldn't be surprised; he did fall asleep a lot earlier than he usually does. And school doesn't start for 2 hours and 45 minutes and he doubt he would be able to go back to sleep so that meant he had some time to burn.

At the very least he wouldn't have to wait in line for the bathroom in order to brush his teeth, shower, and well…use the bathroom. The only one of his sisters that had a chance at being up was Lucy but even five in the morning as a stretch for her, so he was about 95% sure he was the only one up.

"Well, might as well take advantage of this while I can." Lincoln told himself quietly as he got out a set of fresh cloths. No way was he gonna wear the ones he wore both yesterday and to bed…despite that fact that the new set was identical to the one he was wearing right now.

Once he got out some fresh cloths, he looked to his drawer again and saw Leonidas on his little pillow. The Bakugan seemed to be sound asleep. Just because Lincoln woke up this early didn't mean Leonidas had to either so Lincoln would wait for either the Darkus Bakugan to wake up on his own or until Lincoln was going to leave.

After making his decision, Lincoln set the cloths down on his bed and head out of his warm and quietly tip toed to the bathroom. Once inside, he quickly started up the shower and got to cleaning himself. As he was in the shower, he started thinking of the events of yesterday.

"Dan…" Lincoln sighed out. He was upset at the Pyrus user, that's for sure, but maybe he was a little hard on Dan. Yeah, he was being reckless and aggressive, but that's just who Dan is. He should start being more cautious now with his Bakugan since they now knew they weren't just pieces to a game and were actually living, breathing creatures, but this sorta thing was still new to Dan and to Lincoln.

The Loud boy had to admit, one of the reasons he acted the way he did towards Dan because Lincoln was starting to get a little scared of this. Masquerade scared him, the doom card scared him, and what scared him the most was that now if he lost a battle with his Bakugan and they were sent to the Doom Dimension, he was the one responsible for losing the battle and for his impotence in battle being the reason they were essentially damned to hell.

Honestly Dan was taking this whole situation much better than he was. He was still the same hot headed and confident brawler he always was. He honestly had to admire Dan for that. No matter the situation he always seems to keep his cool, granted his temper can sometimes get the better of him, but he always comes through in the end. Its more then Lincoln could say for himself given that when things get bad. Yeah, he sometimes kept his cool, but a lot of the time he tended to let things get the better of him.

Like when he went to go see the horror movie the Harvester, or when he and his siblings pulled a mutiny on Lori, or probably one of his biggest and most humiliating goof ups, the Sadie Hawkins Dance. During all those times and even more he always lost his cool in the end. Sure, they all worked out, but that didn't mean it was easy.

And this was something else entirely. He still remembers Masquerade's words.

'_Bakuagn is more then just a game kiddo. There was other dimensions and powers involved. It's a battle that could lead to the destruction of an entire world.'_

'_And the only way to stop it…is to beat me.'_

Despite the water of the showing being hot, Lincoln had a chill up his spin as he remembered the masked Brawlers words. It was obvious that it wasn't a joke. Bakugan was something else entirely and Lincoln was freaking out on the inside about it.

Getting Leonidas helped him out and gave him someone to talk to about it as well as confidence due to having such a strong Bakugan to count on…but still…it would be nice if they had a better relationship. He did ask if he and Leonidas were friends last night but decided to drop it so he wouldn't end up either making Leonidas nervous or angry. Leonidas was his partner and that was that. No need to add labels that might make each other feel uncomfortable.

Going back to Dan, Lincoln admired him for how he was usually able to keep himself hyped up despite the situation. While he was upset at Dan for not being more careful about his Bakugan, he should just be grateful that nothing bad did happen and they just needed to prepare themselves for next time and they could both work together to be more ready and careful for any upcoming battles with Masquerade and/or his goons.

Instead Lincoln just let the pressure get to him and snapped at Dan. Definitely not one of Lincoln's best moments. You would think that he would be able to handle pressure better due to living with 10 sisters most of his life, but that gets thrown at the window when Dimensions to a Bakugan graveyard get added into the mix.

"Maybe I should talk to him about it today." Lincoln told himself as he turned off the water to the shower. "We have to see each other at school today anyway."

Once Lincoln stepped out of the shower, he quickly used a towel to dry off and wrapped it around his body. He then quickly sped-walk over to his room and once inside, made sure Leonidas was still asleep so he wouldn't see what came next. Once he was sure the Darkus Bakugan was still asleep, Lincoln quickly put his clothes on.

Once fully dressed, Lincoln looked at his clock and saw that it was only 5:30. Still plenty of time to kill. Just then Lincoln's stomach growled a little bit and the Loud boy decided it was probably time to make breakfast. And when he was about to leave the room again-

"You up early." Lincoln was startled a bit as he looked behind him and saw Leonidas opened up and looking at him. "You ok kid?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Lincoln answered awkwardly while shifting his eyes around. "How…long have you been up?"

"For about 3 seconds." Leonidas said with a loud yawn. "Just woke up. Why?"

"Uh…no reason." Lincoln said as averted his gaze from his partner. He didn't wanna tell him he just put cloths on right in front of him just a minute ago. "So hey, sorry about that question yesterday I kinda just threw that at you without warning and-"

"No, no, no, it's fine." Leonidas quickly said, interrupting Lincoln. "It just took me off guard a little. No big deal."

"So…we're cool?" Lincoln asked as he gestured between him and Leonidas.

"Yeah, we're cool." Leonidas reassured the Loud boy. "So, I'm guessing we're gonna get some breakfast?"

Lincoln smiled at the now lack of an awkward atmosphere as he picked his partner up. "Sure thing bud." Lincoln told Leonidas as he put the Bakugan as his shoulder.

Soon enough the two partners were sitting at the kitchen table with Lincoln eating a bowl of cereal and Leonidas simply sitting on the table to the side and watching his partner chow down. "So…what are we gonna do after this?"

"Well…" Lincoln thought as he ate his cereal. They could just wait for the rest of his sisters to wake up and to go to school the normal way when it was time, but after everything Lincoln is feeling rather restless and doesn't wanna sit still for to long and he's gonna have to do just that at school today. "I guess we can just head out now and walk around a bit before school starts. I kinda don't wanna wait around for everyone."

"Agreed." Leonidas said with a nod. "Come on, let's blow this Popsicle stand."

Lincoln chuckled and proceeded to finish off his cereal by drinking up all the milk in the bowl. He then put Leonidas on his shoulder again and placed the bowl in the sink. Once that was down, Lincoln proceeded to grab a sticky note and wrote down that he was heading out on it. He then stuck it on the fridge where at least one of his family members were bound to see it, grabbed his backpack from his room, and headed out.

* * *

The duo walked for some time, long enough that they started to see the sun slowly coming up into the sky. As they passed the streets of Lincoln's hometown, they witnessed after a certain point in time that the lights of houses came on showing that finally some families were starting the day at a more reasonable time then when Lincoln did.

Soon enough the two of them found themselves at the park. They decided to pass through there since the park has a shortcut to the school. "Heh, brings back memories." Leonidas said as they passed by the fountain. "I know it's only been a few days, but it feels like its been a lot longer."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Lincoln asked with a teasing smirk.

"…Take your pick." Leonidas said after a moment of silence. Lincoln was sure if Leonidas could make proper expression, he'd have a grin on his face. Leonidas then looked forward and saw someone sitting on the bench. "Hey, who's that over there? They look familiar."

Lincoln sighed in response as he rubbed his head. "I swear if its Shuji again I'm gonna-" However, when Lincoln looked where Leonidas was looking and saw that sitting on the park bench that was several yards away was none other then the goth Haiku. "Oh, its Haiku again."

"Why do we always seem to run into her?" Leonidas asked as this was the third time since becoming Lincoln's partner that they've run into her. "Is she following us or something?"

Lincoln rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I doubt that, sometimes coincidences just happen." Lincoln then started to walk towards the goth and saw that she was writing something in her journal, probably a poem. "Well, might as well go say hi."

"Wind, wind, wind…" Haiku said as he tapped the eraser end of the pencil against her chin as she seemed to be stuck on the poem she was writing.

"You need some help." Haiku's eyes widened a bit at the familiar voice and looked up to see Lincoln Loud with Leonidas on his shoulder approaching her.

"Lincoln?" Haiku asked in a mix of her usual monotone voice and confusion. "I certainly didn't expect to see you here. Especially at this time."

"Yeah, I kinda passed out early yesterday and woke up at five." Lincoln explained while scratching the back of his head. "So, me and Leonidas decided to just go out and walk to school since we have a lot of spare time."

"Ah, I see." Haiku said in understanding. "I usually come around her around this time of day to be alone and enjoy the silence of dawn."

"Oh, uh, sorry about this then." Lincoln apologized as he took a step back. "I didn't mean to invade on your quiet time, I can just g-"

"No!" Haiku suddenly said as she shot up from her chair and looked Lincoln in the eye. Lincoln and even Leonidas were taken aback by the goth girls' sudden outburst and the girl in question quickly noticed this as an embarrassed pink blush came to her face. "I mean…I don't mind. Sometimes its nice to have company."

"Um, y-yeah. Sure. Mind if I…" Lincoln gestured to the spot on the bench next to Haiku and the goth gave a nod as she patted the area. "Thanks." Lincoln then sat down next to the black-haired girl.

"Are all human females this confusing?" Leonidas whispered to Lincoln's ears.

"In my experience…yes." Lincoln whispered back with complete honesty.

"What was that?" Haiku asked, not quite hearing what the two of them said.

"Nothing!" Lincoln quickly said in response, thank God Haiku didn't just hear that, before looking to Haiku's journal. "So, you're working on a poem?"

"Yes." Haiku said simply as she opened up her journal more. "Although I'm stuck on this part. I need a word that rhymes with wind."

Lincoln hummed a bit as he put a hand to his chin in thought. Just then the white head smiled as he thought of some stuff. "How about, thinned, skinned, grinned, pinned, or sinned." Lincoln listed off.

Haiku's eyes perked up a tiny bit as she wrote something down in her journal. "Hmmm, that works." Haiku said with an almost unnoticeable smile, similar to Lucy's. "I can see why Lucy talks about you a lot. You're good at this."

Lincoln's eyebrow went up at this as he looked at the goth girl. "Lucy talks about me a lot?" Lincoln asked with a slight hint of confusion.

Haiku gave a nod in response as she quietly closed her journal. "She says how you always help her with her poems and how she can easily go to you about anything without having to worry about being judged or teased." Haiku explained as Lincoln's eyes widened a tiny bit. "She has things even she won't open up to me about, I can sense it in her aura."

"Wow…really?" Lincoln asked as he knew about some of Lucy's biggest secrets. For example, how she's a secret fan of Princess Pony. "Heh, its not _that_ big of a deal. I'm just trying to be a good older brother."

"Well I'd say you're doing a good job." Haiku told Lincoln while looking into his eyes. Lincoln looked to see that Haiku was giving him a tiny smile. Suddenly Lincoln found a tiny blush coming to his face from the goths words and smile which he had to admit was rather cute.

'_Ah! What's going on with you Lincoln!' _Lincoln mentally yelled at himself as he felt his heart rate suddenly increase. '_Come on, you need to snap out of it!' _Just then Lincoln was snapped out of his thoughts by a sound and looked to see Haiku lightly smacking her lips.

"Sorry." The goth apologized once she noticed Lincoln heard her. "I'm just a bit thirsty. I forgot to bring a water bottle today."

Lincoln nodded in understanding and looked around and smiled once he found a drink machine that had only water bottles. "Here, I'll go get us some drinks." Lincoln then got up from the bench just as Leonidas spoke up.

"Hey, why don't you get the drinks and I'll stay here and keep her company." The Darkus Bakugan said as he jumped down to where Lincoln was just sitting.

Lincoln looked confused at Leonidas for a moment before simply shrugging and giving the Darkus Bakugan a nod. They then watched as Lincoln walked off to the drink machine and once he was out of hearing distance, Leonidas looked up at Haiku and spoke up to the goth girl. "Hey, Haiku, right?"

"Yes." Haiku said, once again going monotone, as she looked down at Leonidas. "And you're Leonidas, right?"

"Yeah…hey, I was wondering if I could ask ya something?" Leonidas asked the goth girl who simply gave Leonidas her usual neutral look, but Leonidas could tell that she was listening. "What's Lincoln like exactly?"

"Hm, what do you mean?" Haiku asked with a raised brow. She didn't quite get what Leonidas was asking.

"Well, you two are friends, right?" Leonidas asked as he thought about the times, he saw Lincoln and Haiku interacted. He figured he had to be friend with her considering how he stood up for her against that Bruno guy.

"Well…" Haiku slowly said as she begun to understand what Leonidas meant. They haven't interacted much, but despite the little debacle at the Sadie Hawkins Dance her and Lincoln were on good terms and had a few good times. "Yes, I would like to think we we're friends."

Leonidas nodded in response as he shifted in place a little bit. "Well, its just that last night Lincoln asked if me and him were…friends." Leonidas explained his situation to the goth girl. "And…I didn't exactly know what to say."

"Well, you're partners right?" Haiku asked the Bakugan. Along with her interaction with Leonidas the other day, Lucy told her, her fair share about the Darkus Bakugan. Mostly about how much of a jerk he was but also saying how Lincoln no longer goes anywhere without him and his Bakugan brawling skills and win streak seemed to improve as well. Also, Lincoln just seemed a lot a happier now that he had Leonidas as a partner. "And I've heard that he's been a lot more positive since you have appeared before him."

"Heh, yeah." Leonidas said with a chuckle. "The kid certainly has a lot of energy." Leonidas then stopped and looked down. "And he also asked if I really trusted him or if I was just using him so I could battle other Bakugan in Brawls and-"

"You weren't sure." Leonidas was interrupted and rather stunned as Haiku finished his sentence for him. "Well if you aren't sure then you need to find out. What do you feel when you're in battle."

"I feel alive!" Leonidas immediately answered back. "I feel like it was something I'm meant to do and there's nothing I want to do more then to crush my opponents into the ground and make them witness my power!"

Haiku, despite Leonidas loud and aggressive answer, nodded and accepted the answer and then gave a follow up question. "Now, how do you feel when you're just hanging out with Lincoln outside of battle. Do you ever have fun?"

"Hmmmmm…" Leonidas hummed as he went into deep thought about this. While he did live for battle and loved nothing more then to take down other Bakugan that thought they could even try and take him on…he would be lying if he said just being around the Loud boy wasn't at least a little fun. "I…guess so. The kid certainly has a full plate at home, but he still showed me some pretty cool things and we've had a few fun times outside of just brawling. Heh, one time we watched a movie called Godzilla together. I thought it was gonna be stupid, but it was actually really awesome. Wouldn't mind picking a fight with that lizard myself."

"Well then you two do have a true bond." Haiku told Leonidas as she looked to see Lincoln standing in front of the water machine. "It may be small now but if you let it, you can let it grow into something great. But it's a mutual effort. You both need to have trust in each other."

"Trust…" Leonidas repeated as he looked down in thought.

"I can say I think you would be lucky to have him as a friend." Haiku told the Darkus Bakugan. "One time they're was a dance at our school and Lucy along with 3 of Lincoln's sisters ended up setting him up with dates since he didn't have anyone to go with. Lucy set me up with him and Lincoln kept rotating between spending time with us. Eventually he ended up setting us up with his friends and he set up me and his best friend Clyde. I honestly ended up having a fun time with Clyde since we shared a similar pain."

"The next day he got us all together and confessed what happened and how he was pretty much juggling four dates at once. He apologized and even said if we were that upset with him, he'd accept it if we beat him up. But we didn't. We said it was alright and that there were no hard feelings. He could have just not say anything to any of us and get off Scott-free but he chose to tell the truth and face the potential consequences."

"Wow…he was really willing to take a beating from four females to make up for it?" Leonidas said with a surprised tone that his partner was willing to do that.

"Yes." Haiku said with a nod. "Although a prefer the darkness, I can't help but admire his golden heart."

"Huh, gotta admit. That takes guts." Leonidas admitted. Although he's only been around Lincoln for a short time, that's more then enough time to learn the terrors of the human female. "Guess he deserves more credit then I give him."

Haiku gave a tiny smile again as she looked to see Lincoln was now making his way back to them. A tiny hard to notice blush came across her pale face as she looked at the white head. "Yes. Yes he does."

"Ok I'm back." Lincoln then came back to the bench the goth girl and Bakugan were sitting on with two water bottles. "Here ya go."

Lincoln handed one bottle to Haiku who gladly took it. "Thank you Lincoln." Haiku thanked as she took a quick drink. She then got off the bench and put her journal back in her bag. "We should probably get going to school now."

"Yeah, don't wanna be late." Lincoln agreed as he picked up Leonidas and put him on his shoulder. "Follow us, we know a short cut." Haiku simply nodded and contently followed the two of them to the school.

* * *

"Huh, wonder where Lincoln is." Dan said as he placed his backpack on his desk. School was just started and so far, the Pyrus user hasn't seen his white-haired friend anywhere so far. Yeah, he and Lincoln had a bit of an argument yesterday, but Lincoln wouldn't skip school just to avoid him right?

"Oh hey Dan," Dan looked to see Lincoln's best friend Clyde come into the room and put his things his desk which was just two seats away from Dan's desk. "Didn't Lincoln tell you? Principle Huggins said he needed his help with something?"

"With what?" Dan asked with a raised brow.

Clyde could only shrug in response. "I'm not sure. I only overheard it from the corner. Lincoln came in a little early today with Haiku and Huggins asked for Lincoln's help with something. He's gonna miss first period but he'll get extra credit."

"Huh, oh well guess I can talk to him later." Dan said with a sigh. He was hoping he could at least try to talk to Lincoln about what happened. Besides, no way he could hide throwing Drago in the river from Lincoln forever. Either he would tell them, or one of their friends would during a chat session.

"I see, well in that case you should probably set a trap in advance." Dan heard a voice say. Looking to the source, they saw that most of his classmates were around a kid with darkish turquoise hair and glasses. He seemed to be showing them something on a device. "If you avoid a battle here, your opponent will naturally attack like this. You see what I mean?"

"I do now." Rusty said with an impressed tone.

"Well I'll be." Liam said in a similar tone.

"Ryo?" Dan said, getting the attention of the glasses wearing student. "I didn't know you were into Bakugan."

"Yeah." Ryo admitted as he looked down at his handheld computer. "Although I've never been in a full-on battle before. I'm not really ready."

"Not ready?" Dan said with a surprise before looking at Ryo with a cocky smirk. "Ha! What are ya? Chicken?"

"Well, I like to collect data and use to come up with various possible battle strategies." Ryo explained as he showed his computer to Dan.

"Battle strategies? I think the best stradegy is to increase the power level of your team don't ya think?" Dan said rather aggressively as he figured the best way to win was to overwhelm the opponent with brute force and high power.

"There's much more to it then that." Ryo insisted as he went in on a more in-depth explanation. "If a counter ability is set, then it's possible to defeat even the strongest opponent with less power than them."

"What? Are you serious?" Dan asked in a rather surprised tone.

"Bakugan isn't just about strength." Ryo explained even further. "Its also an elaborate tactical game. One must engage in battle while trying to outsmart the opponent by anticipating their actions."

'_How can this guy know so much and he hasn't even brawled?!' _Dan mentally yelled as he found it hard to believe someone who's never been in a battle would know so much about the game. Well…except for Alice of course.

"Well I have to admit Ryo's ideas are pretty amazing." Girl Jordan told Dan as she smirked at the Pyrus user. "I'd bet even you'd have trouble beating him Dan."

"What did you say?!" Dan yelled at the girl before looking to Ryo again. "Alright smart guy. I'll battle you anytime any place, you got that?"

"What?" Ryo said as he took a step back. "But I didn't say-"

But Ryo was interrupted by Dan who kept at it. "Or maybe all your big fancy strategies aren't worth spit." Dan then started walking up to Ryo and talking rather aggressively. "So why don't you put your money where your mouth is or keep it shut!"

However, Dan's behavior ended up frightening Ryo, especially when Dan got right into his face, and the glasses wearing boy ended up backing away and tripping on his desk. This caused him to fall on the floor face first and drop his computer which fell right onto the floor. Ryo gasped in panic as he quickly got up. "Oh no! My computer!" Ryo then quickly went to pick up his computer and check on it.

"I…didn't mean to." Dan slowly said as guilt started coming to him.

"Now why'd you do that for Dan?" Zach asked while giving a harsh look to the Pyrus user. "You probably broke his computer."

"Way to go Dan!" Stella said while glaring at the 12-year-old.

"What? I didn't even touch his computer." Dan defended himself as he flinched when he saw Ryo look up at him with fear in his expression. "Its…not my fault!" Dan said before running back to his desk to avoid his classmates.

"Yeah whatever." Rusty said with crossed arms.

* * *

"Great Dan, just great." Lincoln told himself with an irritated expression on his face as he walked towards the exit of the school. It was the end of the day and needless to say he's heard about what happened with Ryo from his friends during lunch. He was hoping to make things cool with Dan today but this just made him mad again.

"Goofed up two times in a row." Leonidas commented from Lincoln's shoulder. "Not a good track record."

Lincoln didn't respond to Leonidas's words and simply exited the school along with the rest of his fellow students. Lincoln pretty much spent the rest of the day ignoring Dan and the same went for the Pyrus user and he didn't interact with Lincoln due to the incident.

Once Lincoln was out of the school, he found none other Ryo walking away from school looking while upset. "Hey Ryo!" Lincoln called out to the glasses wearing boy who stopped and looked back at the white head. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened this morning. If you want, I can take your computer to my sister Lisa. I'm sure she can fix it."

"Oh, uh, thanks Lincoln." Ryo said as a small smile came to his face. "But I think I'm fine. It doesn't look like to much damage happened. I should be able to touch it up when I get home."

"If you say so." Lincoln replied back to Ryo. "But if you need help just give me a call." Ryo simply nodded in response as he started walking away again. Once he was gone Lincoln look down and sighed as he rubbed his temple. "Dang it Dan."

"Are you ok?" A voice suddenly came from behind him.

"AAAAAAHHH!" Lincoln and Leonidas screamed in fright from the sudden voice as they looked behind them and saw Haiku standing behind them.

"SERIOUSLY!? HOW THE HELL DO YOU AND LUCY DO THAT?!" Leonidas yelled as he's had just about enough jump scares from young goth girls.

"It's a goth secret." Haiku told the Bakugan before looking back to Lincoln. "Anyways, I can sense your stressed."

"Yeah you could say that." Lincoln admitted as his heart rate turned back to normal. "I was hoping to make up with Dan today but-"

"The computer?" Haiku finished for him. Lincoln rose a brow and was about to ask how she knew that before Haiku spoke up once again. "I heard about it during lunch."

"Oh that makes sense." Lincoln muttered before shaking his head. "Anyway, I do want to make up with Dan, but it just seems to be one thing after another."

"I understand." Haiku calmly said with a nod. "I can see the pain in his aura from losing his friends and he's taking his anger out on others."

"Wait? Friends? Like plural?" Lincoln asked with confusion in his voice and expression. "What does that mean?"

"Hmmmm." Leonidas hummed, getting the two 11-year-olds attention. "Come to think about it, I didn't sense the Dragonoid's presence today."

"Yes." Haiku said with a nod.

"So that means…something happened between Dan and Drago to." Lincoln said slowly as he remembered both him and Drago between upset with Dan the other day. Lincoln put a hand to his head and started rubbing it. "Geez this just keeps getting more messed up."

"I'm sorry about your pain." Haiku apologized to the Loud boy as she did feel bad for the things Lincoln was going through with Dan right now.

"Don't worry, its not your fault." Lincoln said with a sigh. He then looked back at Haiku and remembered their interaction from this morning and how the presence of the goth seemed to just…calm him down. Minus when she pulled a Lucy and showed up outta nowhere. "Hey, so I was wondering if you wanted to meet up tomorrow morning again."

Haiku's eyes widened a bit in surprise. She was not expecting that. "R-Really…" She asked to make certain of what she was hearing.

"Well…yeah." Lincoln told Haiku with a small smile. "I mean, I understand if you rather have your quiet time. But being around you seemed to help calm me down and be more level-headed."

Haiku wasn't sure why, but she found herself blushing at the words the boy in front of her just said. '_I…help him stay calm?' _The goth girl thought as most people around her, minus her fellow Goth's at the Morticians Club, found her presence to creep them out. "I suppose if it helps you, I wouldn't mind." Haiku told the Loud Boy as she used her hair to cover her blush. "Plus, it helps that you're good at critiquing poetry."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Lincoln said as he suddenly pulled Haiku into a hug. Needless to say, the goth girl was not expecting this, and her face suddenly exploded into red. However, suddenly she found herself hugging back without even realizing it.

After a few seconds Lincoln pulled away and started walking away and waving to Haiku. "See ya Haiku! See ya tomorrow."

"Y-Y-Yeah…" Haiku stuttered as she was frozen in place. "S-S-See y-ya…"

Lincoln had decided to walk home that day, he text Lori tell her this. Today he felt a nice walk home would help it out and it was a perfect sunny say so that helped. And as Lincoln was walking, Leonidas opened up and spoke to Lincoln. "So Linc, I was wondering if I could ask ya something."

"Yeah sure." Lincoln immediately responded with. "Whats up partner?"

"So I know we should probably figure out what happened between Dan and Drago but today maybe we can just…chill out. Take it easy." Leonidas told the Loud boy, causing Lincoln to stop his walk.

"Really?" Lincoln asked as he looked at his partner with a raised brow. "I figured you'd want to go find some more brawls or something or, well, as you said find out whats up with Dan and Drago."

"Well, yeah, but maybe we can just take today off." Leonidas suggested with a genuine tone. "Just take some time to hang out with each other and destress. Maybe we can watch a movie or something. Ya know, just being a couple of friends."

Lincoln was taken aback a bit by his partners words, but it all soon registered into Lincolns mind as he took Leonidas and put the Darkus Bakugan in his open hand and smiled down at Leonidas. "That sounds great…partner." Lincoln said with a wide grin.

"…Friend." Leonidas corrected.

Lincoln's eyes widened a bit as they sparkle before a big toothy grin. "Ya know, I just got the new Ace Savvy Movie. And this one has a lot of fight scenes!" Lincoln told his Bakugan friend with an excited tone.

"Ha! Sounds good!" Leonidas said as Lincoln quickly picked up the pace back home.

* * *

_**THE NEXT MORNING**_

"So, it seems you two are rather happy today." Haiku said as she, Lincoln and Leonidas walked towards the school. Lincoln had did what he said and met Haiku at the park early in the morning. It was then that Haiku saw a much more friendly bond between Lincoln and Leonidas and even a goth such as herself couldn't help but be a little happy at seeing the closer bond between the two.

"Yeah, from now one whatever happens, we're both in it together!" Lincoln said with a pumped-up fist before looking to his shoulder where his partner rested. "Right Leo?"

"Damn right!" Leonidas confirmed as he looked up at Lincoln. "Masquerade won't know what hit him!"

Lincoln smirked in response and when Haiku looked at the Loud boy's face, a tiny hardly noticeable smile came to her face along with slightly pink cheeks. Lincoln really was something else huh? And then-

"What?!" Haiku suddenly stop as she held an arm out in front of Lincoln and making him stop.

"Huh?" Lincoln let out as he came to a sudden stop. "Is something wrong?"

"Something doesn't feel right." Haiku said with narrowed eyes.

"Yes…I feel it as well." Leonidas added in as they all looked forward to see Lincoln's group of friends. But beyond that was Dan on one side of the street and Ryo on the other side. But something seemed off about Ryo.

"I'm a nobody unless I battle right?!" Ryo yelled to Dan and if one payed attention they could hear a slight haunting echo to Ryo's voice. Ryo then started walking towards Dan making the Pyrus user assume a defensive position.

Just then Ryo equipped a Bakugan launcher to his wrist. One of Masquerade's Darkus Launchers. "No way!" Lincoln yelled as Dan gasped to see one of Masquerade's devices on Ryo's wrist.

"He's working with Masquerade!" Leonidas yelled as Haiku narrowed her eyes at Ryo. While she felt bad for the boy for what happened to his computer yesterday, but she could feel a dark aura around him. And not the kind of darkness she and Lucy liked, this one felt vicious and malicious.

"You know what this is huh?" Ryo said as he took note of Dan's expression. "I made a deal with your old friend Masquerade and now I'm here to fulfill my end of the bargain!"

"Don't ya see!" Dan yelled back, trying to snap Ryo out of Masquerade's spell. "Masquerade is the enemy."

"_Oh really_?" A deep a gruff voice said. Ryo then raised up his other hand and in it was none other then the Darkus Bakugan Reaper.

"He's not the enemy." Ryo said with an evil smirk. "_You're _the enemy!"

"Then let's battle!" Dan yelled as he pulled out his field card.

"Sounds good!" Ryo said as he pulled out his own field card.

Lincoln's eyes widened in alarm as he suddenly took off running towards the two. "Lincoln wait!" Haiku yelled to the white head in a concerned tone.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" Ryo and Dan yelled as their field cards glowed purple and red respectively.

"Dan wait!" Lincoln yelled to the Pyrus user as he tried to jump towards them as the field opened around Dan and Ryo with Lincoln just not making it.

Suddenly the glowing stopped, and Lincoln found himself falling face first on the concrete. "Ooooow…" Lincoln ground in slight pain.

"Lincoln!" He heard Haiku yell as the goth girl ran towards the Loud boy and helped him up. "Are you alright?" She sounded rather concerned as she had a frown on her face and one that was certainly different then her usual emotionless expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lincoln said as he rubbed his head while Haiku helped him stand back up. Looking to the ground, Lincoln found that Leonidas had fallen off his shoulder and the Loud boy quickly picked him up. "You ok Leonidas?"

"Yeah…just…a little dizzy." Leonidas answered in a bit of a daze.

Lincoln and Haiku sighed in relief and-

"I think…I understand." Looking forward, they saw Dan on his knees…defeated. Suddenly dark clouds covered the sky as thunder was heard in the distance. Like the sky itself was replicating the dread coming from the Pyrus user. "That's his counter ability which makes the gate cards attribute energy useless. Ryo sent a trap for me because he knew what I'd do…"

"Dan…" Lincoln muttered quietly as he gave his friend a concerned look.

"Terrorclaw…Juggernoid…Robotallion…No! No! No! No!" Dan then started hitting hist fist against the ground as he named the Bakugan that were sent to the Doom Dimension because of him.

As Dan was doing this, Ryo simply gave a cruel smirk. Suddenly Dan felt a hand on his shoulder and look to see Lincoln giving him a sympathetic smile. "Hey, it's alright." Lincoln told the Pyrus user in a reassuring tone.

Dan simply looked down in shame and pounded his fist into the ground one more time. Lincoln then looked up at Ryo who started chuckling making the white head glare harshly at him. "Hey! You won already so get lost ya jerk!" Lincoln yelled at the glasses wearing teen.

Lincolns group of friends, who had just complimented Ryo for his win, gasped in response to Lincoln words. "Lincoln! Are you seriously taking Dan's side in this?" Stella asked him in a surprised tone. They told him how Dan acted yesterday, if anything, he deserved this.

"Yeah…I am!" Lincoln said while looking his friends in the eye, making them gasp. "I always stick with my friends."

"Is that so?" Ryo said with a cruel grin. "Then perhaps you'd like to avenge him in battle!"

Lincoln growled as he reached into his pocket and was prepared to pull out his field card. "Oh I'll give you a battle alright!" However, Lincoln was suddenly stopped by a hand coming to his shoulder.

Lincoln looked to see Haiku giving him a fix between a concerned and a serious look. "Lincoln, no." Haiku told the Loud boy while looking him in the eye. "You're to consumed with angry right now. That'll only make you fight irrationally. Take some time to calm down."

Lincoln breathed in and out a few times before sighing and nodded. She was right. Fighting while he was super mad would only lead to bad things. So, after calming down just enough to get his head straight, Lincoln put his field card back in his pocket and spoke up to Ryo. "Just get lost already."

"What this?" Ryo said with a mocking tone and grin. "You scared or-"

"I said get lost!" Lincoln yelled, cutting of Ryo's insult. "Right now before I sick my sister Lynn on ya! And not in a Bakugan Battle, in the way that ends with you inside a locker!"

Ryo flinched violently as a panicked look came to his face. He and most of the school knew how tough Lincoln's older sister Lynn Loud was and how she treated people who bullied Lincoln, along with the rest of his sister, and when it comes to a physical fight and not a Bakugan one he wanted to stay as far away from that as possible.

"Tch, whatever." Ryo said as he gained some of his cool back and started walking away. "Figures you're not man enough to fight your own brawls."

Lincoln simply rolled his eyes in response as Leonidas spoke up. "Don't worry Lincoln." Leonidas reassured his partner. "_We _will crush him!" Lincoln nodded in response to his partner.

Just then the clouds above finally started to bring rain down on them. Luckily, Haiku had just the thing as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a black umbrella which was mostly able to cover the three of them.

"Lincoln…you and Drago were right…" Dan admitted through clenched teeth. "I wasn't fighting smart. I didn't even care about my Bakugan. I was just fighting like it was some sort of game. I said me and Drago were friends, but I didn't treat him like that!"

"Dan, its alright." Lincoln said as he put a hand to his friends back. Lincoln then grabbed Dans arm and helped the Pyrus user stand up. "Look, we can't change once happened, but we can change whats gonna happen and improve ourselves. We can't bring the Bakugan back from the Doom Dimension…but we can avenge them and try to save the rest."

"May their souls rest in peace." Haiku said as she put a hand to her heart in respect. If they asked her, she'd help plan a funeral for the Bakugan they lost in a heartbeat.

"Lincoln…I have to tell you…I threw Drago into the river." Dan admitted, finally telling his friend the truth. "And look, I know it was stupid and I know I was being a huge jerk. I was just angry at the time. With him and you. But now I wish I could take it all back. I'm sorry!"

Dan held his head low in shame, but then felt a strong hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Lincoln giving him a determined look. "Then we need to get him back!" Lincoln told the Pyrus user.

"Alright team!" Leonidas began. "We got a Dragonoid to save!"

* * *

After the school day, Dan was quick to lead Lincoln to where he threw Drago. Haiku had also chosen to tag along with the two of them as well. Lincoln questioned why she wanted to, but Haiku simply told her that she wanted to help out a friend. Lincoln was more then happy with an explanation like that.

"Alright! He's gotta be down here somewhere!" Dan said as he went down the hill and quickly jumped into the water. Lincoln and Haiku were quick to follow as they all split up into different parts of the river and started looking around for the Pyrus Bakugan.

"Come on! Drago!" Dan yelled as he desperately looked through the water. "Drago where are you!"

"What! What's that!" Lincoln yelled while pointing forward. A car had passed by on the road and the lights coming from the vehicle shined down on the river allowing the kids to all see a red glimmer in the water.

"Is that it?" Haiku asked as the glimmer disappeared when the car drove off.

"Drago!" Dan yelled as he quickly headed to where the glimmer was. "Drago is that you?!" As Dan was running in the water, he suddenly tripped over a stone that caused him to land completly into the water.

"_Daniel!" _A voice could be heard from under the water.

"Drago!" Dan yelled as he quickly got up and started running towards where Drago was again.

Just then the speed of the river picked up causing Drago to scream as the current started pushing him away from Dan. "Drago wait! Come back!" Dan yelled as he jumped for it and splashed down in the water. But he managed to catch his partner.

"Dan!" Lincoln yelled as he and Haiku approached the Pyrus user.

They watched as Dan emerged from water taking deep breaths and looked his hands. "Hi…" Dan let out as he looked at the red sphere in his hands.

"Daniel!" Drago yelled to the brown-haired boy as he opened.

"You got him!" Lincoln said with a smile.

"So that's Drago." Haiku muttered as she heard all through out school about Dan's talking Bakugan. Now here she was meeting him.

"Is that really you?" Drago asked as he looked up at his partner.

Dan nodded with a giant smile on his face as he looked down at the Dragonoid. "Yeah buddy…" Dan said as it suddenly stopped raining. Lincoln looked up to see the rain clearing and the clouds moving once again to allow rays of sunshine to pass through and hit the earth.

A little later, Dan, Drago, Lincoln, Leonidas, and Haiku were all sitting on the hill next to the river together drying off in the sunlight. "Drago…" Dan began as he looked to his partner. "I don't know what to say. I was a real jerk. To you and Lincoln. I considered you my friend, but I wasn't looking out for you or my other Bakugan. I just…I can't tell you how sorry I am. I…I just had to tell you that."

"Daniel…I…" Drago begun saying as he turned to his partner.

"I'm really glad you're ok and stuff." Dan continued. "So…I was thinking we-"

"Could be a team again." Drago finished for Dan making the human gasp. "You are not completely useless to me. So why should I not take advantage of you as much as I can."

While Lincoln and Leonidas snickered at Drago's words, even Haiku having to hold a hand over her mouth to hold in a single chuckle, Dan smiled widely and looked towards the Pyrus Bakugan. "You really mean it?" Dan asked so he could be 100% certain.

"We're after the same thing Daniel." Drago added on. "So we should brawl together!"

"Alright!" Dan cheered as he stood up. "That's awesome! Thank you so much! We're gonna-WOAH!" However, as Dan was jumping for joy he suddenly tumbled down the hill and landed right in the water.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Lincoln, Leonidas, and Drago laughed hard. Once again, Haiku had to resist laughing as well. Goth's don't laugh.

"So, I take it you two are buddy-buddy again?" Lincoln asked despite knowing the answer.

"Indeed." Drago told the white head. "From now on we shall fight as a team."

"Good to have you back on-board Drago." Leonidas said as he looked down at the Dragonoid from Lincoln shoulder.

"Good to be back Leonidas." Drago said as he looked up at the Darkus Bakugan. Just then, the Pyrus Bakugan felt something different coming from the Bakugan and asked. "Leonidas…something seems different about you. Its like…you're not so negative anymore."

"What can I say." Leonidas said as he looked to Haiku and then to his partner and friend. "Guess I just realized the great things I have in life."

"Indeed my friend." Drago said before jumped into Dan's hand with the Pyrus user happily catching his friend as he emerged from the water.

* * *

Later, Lincolns group of friends aside from Clyde could be seen walking on the sidewalk with Ryo at the friend. "Hey Ryo!" The group then all looked to see Dan, Lincoln, and Haiku in front of them.

"Uh, hey guys." Rusty said to them awkwardly. "What's up."

"Ryo listen." Lincoln said as he stepped up. "The way you're battling isn't right! Its dangerous!"

"Are you serious Lincoln?" Zach asked with an annoyed look. "Why are you siding with Dan on this? He's been nothing but a jerk lately!"

"Ryo, you are the strongest." On Ryo's shoulder was none other then Reaper who was whispering things into Ryo's ear.

"Yes, I am the strongest." Ryo repeated as he gave Lincoln and Dan a cocky smirk.

"Crush anyone who gets in your way." Reaper continued saying this to Ryo.

"Yes, I will crush anyone who says my strategies are anything less then perfection!" Ryo said as he started walking towards Lincoln and Dan. "And it sounds like that's exactly what you two are trying to tell me."

"Looks like we're doing this hard the way." Haiku said as she narrowed her eyes at Ryo as he approached.

"Indeed. We're gonna have to battle." Drago confirmed as both Dan and Lincoln nodded.

"And hey Ryo, how about you get me and Dan at the same time." Lincoln said as he pulled out his field card. "You vs me and Dan?"

"Two versus one huh?" Ryo asked with a cocky grin.

"Yeah." Dan said as he pulled out his field card. "Unless…you're chicken."

Ryo's eyes went wide with anger as he gritted his teeth. "I'm not chicken! Fine! I'll take you both on and show my strategies can take down two opponents at once!" The glasses wearing boy snapped due to being called a chicken again by Dan.

"Then bring it on then!" Leonidas yelled back as Ryo pulled out his field card.

"Hey Lincoln." Lincoln looked back at Haiku as she said this and proceeded to give the boy a tiny smile that only he could notice. "Good luck."

Lincoln blushed a tiny bit, but then smirked back and gave a thumbs up. Turning back around, Lincoln, Dan, and Ryo all held up their field cards. "**Bakugan Field Open!**" All their cards glowed as the Bakugan field opened up for them.

"**Gate Card set!**" All of them then threw their gate cards down with Ryo's landing in front of Dan, Lincoln's landing in front of Ryo, and Dan's landing to the left of Lincoln's card.

'_Heh, this'll show em!' _Ryo said as he grabbed a gate card. "**Gate Card set**!" Ryo yelled as he threw the gate card down next to his original gate card. Ryo then inserted a Bakugan into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then shot the Bakugan towards his original gate card. "Darkus Fear-Ripper stand!" The ball opened up and glowed as a Darkus Rear Ripper was sent into battle.

"Alright, let's get it on!" Dan said as he had a good idea of what Ryo was up to and grabbed a Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then threw the Bakugan at his own gate card. "Gargonoid stand!" The ball then opened up and a Pyrus Gargonoid entered the battle.

'_Alright, we got this in the bag!_' Lincoln thought confidently as he and Dan had this all planned out before-hand. Lincoln then grabbed a Bakugan and reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw the Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Darkus Centipoid stand!" With a loud hiss, Darkus Centipoid entered the battle.

"To easy!" Ryo gloated as he inserted another Bakugan into the launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then shot it out towards his second gate card. "Mantris Stand." Dan and Lincoln watched as the sphere glowed as a Darkus attributed Mantris came into battle.

Ryo then pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Marionette!**" Ryo's Mantris's eyes glowed as purple string like appendages came out of Mantris's arms and wrapped themselves around Gargonoid. "Alright Matris hand him over to Fear-Ripper!" Ryo commanded as Mantris did just that and moved the Pyrus Bakugan to the card Fear-Ripper was one.

"Alright **Gate Card Open!**" Ryo said as the card glowed and opened up and covered the field with dark energy.

"_Fear-Ripper power increase to 4-0-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod showed the effect of the gate card bring Fear-Ripper up from 320 G's to 400 with Dan's Gargonoid only being at 320.

"Sorry pal but that's not gonna help ya!" Dan yelled as Ryo rose a brow with a cocky smirk. Dan then gave his won confident smirk and pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Linking up Pyrus and Darkus!**"

"What?!" Ryo yelled as both Dan's Gargonoid and Lincoln's Centipoid glowed their respective colors.

"_Gargonoid power increase."_ The Bakugan then showed Gargonoids G power shooting up to 420.

"That's the thing about Darkus and Pyrus." Dan started explaining. "When two allies throw one of each attribute on the field, we can link em up to give our Bakugan a huge boost in power. Now sick em Gargonoid!" Gargonoid roared in response as he swung his fist at Fear-Rippers face. Fear-Ripper was quickly knocked off the ground by this and glowed purple and was reverted back to ball form and landed by Ryo's feet.

"No way!" Ryo yelled as he watched Fear-Ripper bounce at the ground. Meanwhile Gargonoid also turned back into a ball and proceeded to land in Dan's hand.

"Sorry buddy but now its my turn!" Lincoln told his opponent as he pulled out his own ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Attractor!**" Centipoid's eyes then glowed red as he dug into the ground. Just then a giant crack appeared under Mantris and the Mantis Bakugan was dragged down into it and was brought onto the same card Centipoid was on.

"N-No!" Ryo yelled as he witnessed his Bakugan being taken off its gate card.

"Let me guess…that was Mine Ghost card!" Lincoln yelled towards Ryo making the glasses wearing boy gasp loudly. "Yeah, Dan told me that you don't mind pulling Kamikaze's so I figured you had to have a Mine Ghost somewhere. Well sorry but it's not gonna work!"

Ryo growled in response as he pulled out an ability card. "Don't count your chickens yet! **Ability Activate!**"

"Don't think so!" Lincoln yelled as he rose up his hand. "**Gate Card open: Rank Zero!**" Lincoln's gate card then glowed as Mantris was suddenly frozen.

"Noooo!" Ryo yelled as he knew what exactly that card was. He could do nothing but watched as Centipoid struck Mantris and sending the Mantis Bakugan back to ball form and to Ryo's feet.

"Why…you…!" Ricky yelled as Centipoid was also reverted back to ball form with Lincoln catching it.

Lincoln and Dan looked to each other and smirked as Lincoln pulled out a gate card. "You ready for the big finale?" Lincoln asked his Pyrus using friend.

Dan gave a thumbs up in response. "You know it man!" Dan said as Lincoln threw down the gate card next to Ryo's Mind Ghost card.

Lincoln then picked Leonidas up from his shoulder and looked at his partner. "You ready for this Leonidas?" Lincoln asked with a determined smirk.

"Ready for anything!" Leonidas told his partner and friend as he closed up.

"Alright! Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Leonidas towards his new gate card. "Leonidas stand!" Leonidas then let out a powerful roar as he was sent out into battle.

Ryo growled as he inserted his last Bakugan into his launcher. "I'm not done yet! Bakugan Brawl!" Ryo then shot out his Bakugan towards the gate Card Leonidas was one. "Reaper stand!"

"Hahahaha!" Reaper laughed as he entered the battle. Leonidas roared as he quickly charged at Reaper with Reaper quickly holding Leonidas back with his scythe. However, due to Leonidas being 30 G's higher than Reaper, he was slowly starting to lose the power struggling against his fellow Darkus. But despite this, Reaper chuckled as he looked Leonidas right in the eyes. "Interesting."

"What did you say?" Leonidas growled as he pushed Reaper back more.

"You…You're not like any other Bakugan are you." Reaper told Leonidas as he refused to give up the struggle. "You're _special _aren't you?"

"That's none of you're concern Reaper!" Leonidas roared as he put even more pressure on Reaper causing him to now start grunting in pain.

"**Ability Activate!**" Ryo yelled as he rose up a card. "**Reaper of Chaos!**" Reaper's scythe then started to glow as suddenly the battle took a 180 as Reaper pushed Leonidas back and onto the ground. Ryo checked his Baku-pod and saw that Reaper's power increased by 130 G's bringing him up to 500 G's. '_Perfect. Combine this with the dimension four card and Leonidas is set with a one-way trip to the Doom Dimension!'_

"This is over!" Reaper yelled as he rose up his scythe.

"Hehehehe…" Leonidas chuckled causing Reaper and Ryo to become confused. "That's what you think. Lincoln! Now!"

"**Gate Card open!**" Lincoln yelled as he rose his hand up. "**Triple Battle!**" Suddenly Lincoln's gate card glowed as a light barrier appeared between Reaper and Leonidas. Reaper growled and tried slashing the barrier with his scythe but it didn't leave a dent.

"Sorry but that's not gonna work." Lincoln said with a smirk. "Triple Battle is a gate card that puts the battle on hold until a third Bakugan joins the fray!"

"And don't bother with Dimension Four." Dan followed up. "It can shut down the attribute power of gate cards, but can't do a thing against things like command and character cards!"

"Oh no!" Ryo yelled as he realized what his ment.

Dan smirked and proceeded to put Drago in his hand. "You ready for this buddy?" Dan asked his partner to make sure Drago wanted to go through with this.

"You know it partner." Drago said as he closed up.

Dan smirked as he reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then threw his partner at the gate card Reaper and Leonidas were on. "Drago Stand!" Drago then opened up and roared as he joined Leonidas against the battle with Reaper.

Ryo then started to shake with fear as he checked his Baku-pod. "_Leonidas and Dragonoid combined power levels combine to make 740 G's." _The Baku-pod recorded as it showed Leonidas's and Drago's picture coming together and their powers adding up.

"There's no escape now Reaper!" Drago yelled towards his opponent.

"Prepare to face our wrath!" Leonidas roared, with the sound alone causing Reaper to be pushed back and grunt.

"Hey, why don't we amp up the power even more!" Lincoln said as he held up an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Alpha Blaster!**"

Leonidas roared as he started charging his attack with his mouth glowing a bright blue. "_Leonidas power increase by 1-5-0 G's."_ The Baku-pod said as it showed Leonidas's and Drago's combine powering increasing to 890 G's.

"Hey, I like the way you think!" Dan with a smirk as he held up his own ability card. "**Ability Activate!**"

"**Boosted Dragon!**" Drago finished for Dan as he started charging a massive fireball in his mouth and bring his and Leonidas's combined power to 1010 G's.

"And just to make sure!" Lincoln said as he pulled out another card. "**Ability Activate: Linking up Darkus and Pyrus!**" Leonidas and Drago roared as they both started glowing with the power of their respective attribute and their combined power being brought up to a whopping 1210 G's.

"Take this!" Both Leonidas and Drago yelled in unison as they unleashed their attack. Drago fired his boosted Dragon attack first with Leonidas following up by firing his Alpha Blaster right at the fire ball and sending the ball towards Reaper even faster and making it increase in size.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Ryo yelled in complete fright as the attack got closer, and closer to Reaper with the light it was creating nearly blinding him and-

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

"AAAAAAHHH!" Ryo found himself landing on his butt on the concrete with the field having closed. He looked up to see Lincoln and Dan catching Leonidas and Drago respectively in their hands.

Dan and Lincoln had won.

"Woah, did they beat you?" Stella asked with a surprised expression on her face.

"Better believe it." Leonidas bragged as he was put back on Lincolns shoulder.

Haiku then looked at Lincoln and nodded. "Knew you could do it." The goth muttered under her breath.

"I…I lost…" Ryo said as his old self seemed to come back. "I…I got to cocky and my strategies-"

"Your strategies are fine." Ryo looked up and saw and saw Dan extending his arm out to him. "Dude, you're a really good battler. I should really be apologizing about yesterday. For someone who's only just started you're really good! So, how about we battle again next time. Only next time lets just do it for fun and leave out the doom cards, K?"

Ryo took in all of Dan's words before giving the Pyrus user and smile and taking his hand. "Yeah you bet!" Ryo said enthusiastically as Dan helped him to his feet.

Lincoln smiled and nodded in approval before calling out to Dan. "Hey Dan, I'm gonna head home." Lincoln told his brown-haired friend. "Glad we could clear everything up. See ya tomorrow?"

Dan simply nodded at Lincoln and gave the white head a grin and a thumbs up. Lincoln returned the gesture before turning around and seeing Haiku behind him. "Hey Haiku, thanks a lot for everything. I can't tell you how much I appreciate everything."

"It was no trouble." Haiku simply said while giving a small nod to Lincoln. Just then Lincoln saw Haiku pull out a stick note and a pen from her pocket. He wrote something down on the note before handing it over to Lincoln. "Here."

Lincoln rose a brow as he looked at the paper and saw, "Is this your number?" Lincoln asked in a tone that showed he was caught off guard by this as he looked at a 7-digit number on the sticky note.

"Uh-huh." Haiku said before giving the Loud boy a tiny smile. "I doubt you wanna wake up at five in the morning everyday to speak to me. So feel free to give me a call or text."

"U-U-Uh…" Lincoln stuttered with pink cheeks at getting a number from a girl he wasn't related to. Yeah he had Stella's number but they agreed a while ago to just stay friends. This felt different.

"I'll talk to you later." Haiku said before turning around and leaving the area himself.

However, Lincoln was stuck in place as he watched Haiku leave. He saw how the sunlight reflect off her body and how well her dress fit her body. Lincoln felt his cheeks heat up as Leonidas took this time to speak up. "Hey kid, you're starring." The Darkus Bakugan told his partner.

This time Lincolns entire face went red with embarrassment. "Would you…I am not!" Lincoln said as he started stomping towards home. It was then that Leonidas took the time to start laughing his tail off.

"AND STOP LAUGHING!"

* * *

_**Now you can see why I enjoyed this so much. I think Leonidas and Lincoln make a great duo and of course you gotta love Dan and Drago's development as a team. And of course their are the seeds to a certain other thing I'm sure you could see here. I'm honestly loving what I got so far and this might be my new favorite story to write for. And fun is the most important thing in these types of things!**_ _**So I hope you fav, follow, leave a review and stay tuned for...**_

_**"Runo Rules!"**_


	7. Runo Rules

**_This was a fun one to write. Pretty easy and short, but fun. Runo was always a great character and I hated how they treated her after the original season. She wasn't even in Gundalian Invaders for crying out loud! But I plan on doing her better through out this fics entire series! I'll write the wrongs that I promise all of you! Now I hope you enjoy the chapter!_**

* * *

The next few days have been going rather great for Dan, Lincoln, and their Bakugan partners. Dan and Drago have been getting along well and have truly started to work as a team. Plus, Dan has learned that you simply can't brute force your way through a brawl and that strategy and predicting moves was the key. So, thanks to some help and practice with Lincoln Dan's brawling skills have really improved and in such a short time.

As for Lincoln and Leonidas, they've been taking it easy more often. While they still did get into lots of Bakugan Brawls, they've also spent a lot of time just hanging out and doing casual stuff like reading comics, watching TV and movies and playing video games. Granted, that last one was hard for Leonidas due to a being a ball, but they found a few games where they could both play and enjoy themselves. Granted Leonidas was still…Leonidas around Lincoln's sister and got on their nerves but hey, the Darkus user and Darkus Bakugan were having a great time together, and that's what matters.

And another thing that's been happening recently is that Lincoln and Haiku have been talking a lot more. Ever since he's gotten her phone number the two found themselves chatting quite often either by text, call, or meeting up in person. The two simply found themselves chatting about various topics whether it was Lincoln helping Haiku with poems, or even just talking about their day or interest they have. And both of them rather enjoyed their chat sessions. One thing about this is that Lincoln didn't tell any of his sisters of this. The last thing he needed was for them to get the wrong idea and for them to try and set him and Haiku up on a date or something.

Besides, he got enough of stuff like that from Leonidas teasing him.

But overall, ever since Dan and Drago reunited things have been going great for everyone.

And currently today, Lincoln and Leonidas were sitting on the couch with the Darkus Bakugan sitting on top of Lincoln's white colored hair. "Why can't you humans do that in real life?" Leonidas asked as they watch their show. "Life would be so much cooler."

"Hey, I would love to have superpowers." Lincoln responded with as he took a drink of his can of root beer. "But trust me, me and Clyde found out the hard way that I don't have any powers."

"Oh well, can't have it all I guess." Leonidas sighed out as he went back to watching the TV. "Still, I like that blond kid that makes explosions. He has a great personality."

Lincoln rolled his eyes in response as of course Leonidas would think that. "Yeah you would." Lincoln said sarcastically as he leaned back on the couch. "Because you're exactly like him. Just minus the potty mouth."

"Hmmm, maybe I should-"

"NO!" Lincoln yelled at his partner, already knowing what Leonidas was thinking about.

"You're no fun." Leonidas huffed in response.

"You know, I'm literally jealous of you Lincoln." Suddenly a familiar voice came in and Lincoln and Leonidas watched as Lori came down from the stairs and looked down at the duo. "I wish I had my own talking Bakugan."

"I'm sure you'll get one in time Lori." Lincoln reassured his sister as he looked up at her. "Runo got one recently so I'm sure its only a matter of time for you."

"Yeah, what Bakugan wouldn't want to spend time with someone who says literally after every 5 words and freaks out when her boyfriend is one second late to answering her call or text." Leonidas said in the snarky tone he used when mocking Lincoln's sisters.

Lori breathed in deeply through her nose as Lincoln lightly flicked his partner in light retaliation to the words he used against his sister. "Don't react Lori, that's what he wants…" Lori told herself as she attempted to calm herself down. Lincoln then watched as Lori took out the keys to vanzilla. "Anyway, dad said he needed us to head to grocery town today. They're having a huge sale on meat products."

"Oh yeah." Lincoln said as he sat up with Leonidas hoping down to Lincoln's shoulder. "I overheard that from Dan's mom when we were chatting earlier. She's sending him out to pick up some stuff."

"Oh, then maybe we'll run into him along the way." Lori said as Lincoln watch his sister pull out her field card. "I'm literally in the mood to get some brawls in today."

"Hey that sounds pretty good." Lincoln said with a smirk as he turned off the TV and stood up and stretched out a bit. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

_**DOWNTOWN**_

Currently, about a 25-minute drive away from the Loud House was a small café. There currently wasn't any business going one inside with only three people being in the cafe. Two of them being the owners of the café and the third being their daughter. And this daughter was none other then the Haos brawler Runo.

Currently Runo was laying her head down on the counter of the café as she watched her mom and dad clean up dishes. "Oooooh! You can't be serious!" Runo complained at her father who was simply smiling while doing his job. "Why do I have to work her daddy? Why? Why? I hate being a waitress. Its like the most boring job in the whole world."

Runo's dad then looked up from his plate and gave his daughter a smile. Runo's father was a decently build man with green eyes and dark blond hair. "Ah come on Runo, your mom and I love having you around." Runo's father told his daughter with a positive tone.

"Whatever." Runo said with a sigh before looking around her family's restaurant. "But a girl can't get rich when the place is empty."

"I call it a mid-day slump." Runo's father said, not at all bothered by the emptiness of his business.

"You should be proud of your family business Runo." Runo's mother, a pleasantly plump women with blue hair, told her daughter while washing dishes at the sink. "Your father is constantly bragging about you. Have a look around dear, your father has turned this place into a shrine for his little princess." Sure enough, the restaurant was filled with various pictures of Runo from some baby pictures, to pictures of when she was between 5-9 and some more recent pictures. There was even a small plush of Runo next to a photo of the entire Misaki family. "You think there would be more then one picture of me but no…hehe. Now you know why I'm in therapy."

In response, Mr. Misaki chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Hahahaha, yeah, well, can't a father be proud of his only daughter."

"Woooooow. I have the freakiest parents on the planet." Runo commented after hearing her parents exchange.

Just then Mrs. Misaki turned off the sink and turned towards her daughter with a smile. "Say Runo, since it's so slow right now would you mind running a little errand for me?"

"Yeah I guess." Runo said in a bored tone.

"Well while I was in town, I heard Grocery town is having a giant meat sale." Mrs. Misaki explained to her daughter before winking. "If ya go maybe I'll just make ya some liver kabobs!"

Runo quickly perked up and a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, I just adore liver kabobs!" The blue haired girl said with excitement. However, a frown quickly appeared on Runo's face as she remembered something from her video chat with Dan and the others.

'_Sweet! I just love loin tips! Yum!'_

"Oh well great!" Runo yelled out in a massively irritated tone as she leaned back in her chair. "I bet I'll run into Dan there!"

* * *

"Geez how much meat does dad need." Lincoln grunted as he struggled to lift up the numerous bags of meat. "And of all days for their to be no shopping carts available."

"Come on kid, feel the burn." Leonidas cheered on from his partners shoulder. "Think of this as weight training. Don't give in."

"Well I guess this could literally count as a workout." Lori grunted as she also struggled at holding up quite a bit of bags. "Guess Dad must want some more meat for the restaurant and he's gotta take advantage of a sale while he can."

"Well let's just get back to the van." Lincoln said as he and Lori quickly started heading in the direction of when they parked the van when-

"Hey guys! Over here!" Suddenly Lori and Lincoln stopped when they heard a familiar voice call out to them. Turning around, the two siblings found none other then Dan Kuso running up to them holding a single grocery bag with Drago being in his vest pocket. "Hey guys didn't expect to see you guys today."

"Yeah well our dad literally wanted us to go on a shopping trip for him." Lori explained to the Pyrus user as she and Lincoln lifted up their bags for emphasis. "Looks like you're traveling light though."

"Hehe, yeah." Dan said with a small chuckle as he lifted up his single bag. "Mom asked me to do some shopping for her today."

"He keeps going on and on about his mother's loin tips." Drago explained before looking at Dan and, if his face could show any expression, looking very annoyed. "On…and on…and on!"

Lincoln sweat dropped in response and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's Dan for ya." Lincoln muttered before shaking his head. "But yeah, dad wants us to get a bunch of meat for his restaurant."

"Oh, all right!" Dan cheered with an enthusiastic smile. "Your dads' restaurant is the best! Sign me up for something tomorrow!"

"Alright then Dan." Lori said with a roll of her eyes and an amused smile.

"Sweet! Thanks guy!" Dan said before beginning to run off. "I'll see ya guys la-"

_CRASH!_

"DAN!" Lincoln and Lori called out in concern as they watched Dan collide with someone who was running towards the direction Dan was in causing the two to both fall down on their butts on their floor.

"Hahahaha!" Leonidas laughed loudly at seeing the collision. "Timber!"

"Ow!" Dan grunted as he rubbed his head. He then looked forward at the person who ran into him and yelled. "Hey whats the big idea ya big…Runo?!"

"Wait…Dan?!" Dan, Lincoln, and Lori looked to see that it was none other than Runo in front of them and on her butt due to the collision with Dan.

"Woah Runo, didn't except you here." Lincoln said as he put down the bags he was holding and went to go help Runo up. "How's it going?"

"Its going good Lincoln. Thanks." Runo said as Lincoln helped her to her feet with the bluenette picking up the grocery bag she dropped. "I was just doing some shopping for my parents."

"Same here." Lori said with a small chuckle. What are the odds that all of them are hear and they were all shopping for meat for their parents. "So how have you been Runo? We've literally haven't seen you other than online for a while."

"Eh, same ole, same ole. Nothing really noteworthy. Just working the most boring job in the world like usual." Runo answered with a shrug as, minus her total loss at the hands of Masquerade, nothing to exciting was going on with her life now. Just then something came to Runo's mind as she looked towards Dan, who was now on his feet and carrying his grocery bag again. "Hey Dan, can I ask you something."

Dan hummed a bit as he rose his eyebrow but nodded. "Yeah shoot."

"How come I haven't seen you in my parent's restaurant lately?" Runo asked suddenly causing not only Dan, but Lincoln and Lori to flinch a little. "You used to be our best customer but then you hardly started coming by after last month."

"O-Oh u-uh y-y-yeah that. Hehehe, yeah about that…" Dan was struggling to say as the last thing he wanted to do was make Runo angry not only at him but also the Louds behind him due to now being a loyal customer to Lincoln and Lori's dads' restaurant. "Things just kinda happen, the economy and all that…"

Runo wasn't buying it one bit as she puffed up her cheeks as her temper soon started to rise. "So you found somewhere else to eat huh?!" The bluenette yelled causing Dan to back up as Lincoln and Lori nervously looked at each other. "Well where is it?! I at least deserve to know that?!"

"Uuuuum, yeah…" Dan shifted his head to look at Lincoln and Lori with the corner of his eye before nervously looking back at Runo. "You know the names really hard to pronounce. Doubt I could really tell ya if I tried-"

"Dan just drop it." Lincoln said bluntly, deciding it was better to just say it and not provoke Runo's only increasing temper. "He's been coming by my dad's restaurant."

Runo's eyes suddenly shifted to Lincoln as her expression turning to one of surprise. "Wait…WHAT!" Suddenly Runo was all up in Lincoln's face with fire in her eyes. "WHEN DID YOUR DAD OPEN A RESTAURANT?!"

"About a month ago." Lincoln explained simply, thankfully being around girls his whole life was strengthen his will to not be intimidated when a girl's temper exploded. "I thought I told you all about it online."

"WELL YOU DIDN'T BECAUSE THIS IS NEWS TO ME!" Runo yelled with her face red with anger now. "NO WONDER BUSINESS HAS BEEN SLOWER THAN USUAL AT MY PARENT'S RESTAURANT! YOU'RE TAKING ALL OUR BUSINESS!"

"Hey! Back off Runo." Dan said as he pushed Runo off Lincoln. "Come on, I doubt his dad was trying to take your business. Besides have you even _tried _eating some of the food there? Its like eating heaven!"

"Oh, so you're saying the food at my familys restaurant taste terrible huh?!" Runo yelled at Dan.

"No!" Dan quickly responded with.

"Yes." Leonidas followed up on.

"SHUT UP!" Dan, Lincoln, and Lori yelled at the Darkus Bakugan.

"Would you just literally relax Runo." Lori said with an eyeroll. "As manager of my dad's restaurant, I can tell you that we had no intention of stealing away business. Plus, we're located on the complete opposite side of town."

"Oh yeah? Well care to prove it?" They then watched as Runo reached into her pocket and pulled out a Haos Bakugan. "How about…a little battle?"

"Wait, right here?" Dan asked with a confused expression. Lincoln and Lori were in the same boat. The grocery store didn't really seem like a good place to have a battle.

"Of course not." Runo said with the shake of her head. "How about we all meet up later at the park."

At hearing this, Dan simply smirked and shook his head. "Nah, I wouldn't wanna take your Bakugan." Dan said, surprising the 3 others quite a bit. "I'm a pretty good a pretty good Brawler." Before Runo could respond, Dan started running past Runo. "I'll see you guy later!"

Runo stood there silent for a moment as Lincoln and Lori watched as Dan disappeared into the distance and now gone from view. "Huh…well that happened." Lincoln said in a slightly awkward tone.

"Hmph, whatever." Runo muttered as she crossed her arms and looked towards the Loud siblings. "Well how about you two? Or are you guys gonna run like cowards to?"

"Please, I'll be more intimidated by daisy's before I'm intimidated by you!" Leonidas said in challenging tone as he looked right into Runo's eyes.

"Oh is that right!" Runo yelled back at the Darkus Bakugan. "Trust me when I say this bub, you do not wanna cross me!"

"Heh, yeah like I'm so scared of a Miku wanna be." Leonidas mocked causing Runo's face to burn red with anger as her ears released steam.

"Dude…you are _really _not helping right now." Lincoln told his partner with a blank tone. "Can we just do this later."

"I agree." Lori said as she got in between Lincoln and Runo. "Look, Runo, how about we give you a ride home and we can just settle this later."

"Hmph." Runo let out as she crossed her arms and turned away from the Loud. "I don't need help from the _competition_! I can get home all by myself thank you very much. So how about you read back to your little restaurant and-hey, what's that?"

Suddenly, as she was talking, Runo looked to the ground prompting Lincoln and Lori to look down as well and what they saw was a red Baku-pod. Dan's Baku-pod. "Huh, he must have dropped it when you two ran into each other." Lincoln said as Runo bent down and picked the Baku-pod up.

Runo then looked the device over, checking for any damages, when suddenly it started vibrating. "Huh, looks like he has a message." Runo told the Louds siblings as they looked at the screen of the Baku-pod as Runo hit play…

And saw Masquerade.

"MASQUERADE!" The Lincoln, Lori, Leonidas, and Runo yelled as they looked at the Baku-pod with extreme focus.

"_Hello Dan. Masquerade here." _They heard Masquerade say on the recorded message. "_I have a little invitation for you. Meet me at the river this afternoon. Around three o'clock. And come alone if you know whats good for you."_

Once the message was over, the group all glared at the image of Masquerade. "I just hate that creep." Runo growled as she tightened her fist.

"Join the club." Lori said as she crossed her arms.

"Someones gotta stop that guy." Lincoln said as Leonidas grunted in approval. "He's already gone to for with everything he's done. Its time someone knocks him down a notch."

"You know…I agree Lincoln." Runo said as she held onto Dan's Baku-pod tightly. "And that someone…is going to be me!"

Lincoln and Lori silently gasped as she looked at Runo with widened eyes…before Runo turned to them with an overly sweet expression. "Soooooo, about that ride you offered…"

Lincoln and Lori quickly gained deadpanned faces towards the blue haired girl. "What happened to literally not needing help from the competition?" Lori asked with a raised brow, quoting what Runo said early.

"Aw come on, we're past that. It happened, like, forever ago." Runo said, continuing her sweet act and tone.

"It was two minutes ago." Leonidas said bluntly, earning a glare from Runo.

"You butt outta this." Runo told the Darkus Bakugan before gaining her sweetness back and looking at the Loud siblings. "Come on, pleeeeeeease. Pretty please with a cherry on top."

Lincoln and Lori groaned a bit before nodding. "Alright fine." Lincoln relented. "But only because we're dealing with Masquerade."

"Thanks guy! You're the best!" Runo said to the two before they all took their shopping bags and headed towards Vanzilla together.

* * *

Currently, at the spot at the river where Masquerade told Dan to meet him at, and neither the messenger nor the receiver was there. In Dan's place was Runo with Lincoln and Lori standing behind her in support. Standing across from Runo was a boy with dark blue hair, brown eyes and wearing a sleeveless green vest under a black sleeveless shirt. He had a yellow belt and baggy dark yellow pants that had a single large horizontal green strip at the bottom with a single thin vertical green strip coming up from the large green strip and finally blue and black shoes. This boy was called Tatsuya and he also had with him a Masquerade launcher on his wrist that was colored black and red.

"And just who are you all supposed to be?" He asked in a cocky and annoying tone. "My battle is supposed to be with Dan and Dan alone. Not two lame girls and some white-headed freak."

"…I'm literally going to kill him." Lori said as she began cracking her knuckles.

"Easy Lori." Lincoln said as he held his hand out in front of his oldest sister. "Lets have Runo handle this."

"I still don't get why _she _gets to battle." Leonidas grumbled as he was itching to take on one of Masquerades goons right now.

"Because Runo called dibs." Lincoln said with an eyeroll. "Relax you'll get the next one." Leonidas simply 'Hmph'd in response.

Runo simply rolled her eyes at Tatsuya as she said. "Who cares about Dan. He's the one who's lame." With confidence in her voice.

This caused Tatsuya to gain a surprised expression. "You mean…you beat Dan?" He asked as he was sent here to battle Dan, but perhaps battling someone who beat Dan would be more exciting.

"Who cares about Dan!" Runo yelled back at the boy. "Did you come here to battle or what Mr. Not-So-Big-Shot. I'm challenging _you_!"

Tatsuya simply smirked and sent Runo a challenging look. "Ok but you're gonna be sorry." He said as he pulled out his field card. "Because I'm gonna whip ya good."

Lincoln and Lori then went right behind Runo as both she and Tatsuya pulled out their field cards. "**Bakugan Field Open!**" Runo and Tatsuya raised up their cards, with Runo's glowing yellow and Tatsuya's glowing red, as the Bakugan field opened around them.

Due to being in range of the cards, Lincoln and Lori were sent to the field as well were they were allowed to watch the battle and cheer Runo on. Once the field was open, Tatsuya smirked and pulled out none other then the Doom Card. "**Doom Card set!**" Tetsuya let the card fall onto the battlefield causing a purple energy wave to spread throughout the field.

Runo simply narrowed her eyes at her opponent as she and Tatsuya pulled out a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" They then threw their gate cards opposite of themselves making them expand.

"You ready for this Runo?" Lincoln asked his blue haired friend with a smile.

Runo smirked at the white head and nodded while taking out a Bakugan. "You bet!" Runo said with confidence before looking to her Bakugan. "It all rides on you Juggernoid." Runo then reared her hand back with said Bakugan at the ready. "Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then threw Juggernoid towards Tatsuya's gate card. "Bakugan Stand!"

Juggernoid then opened up on the gate card and glowed as it was unleashed onto the battlefield. At first only Juggernoid's shell appeared but quickly thereafter, its limbs, tail, and head popped out. However, this only caused Tatsuya to let out a cocky laugh. "Hahahaha! Are you serious? Your Bakugan's a giant turtle? All it can do is crawl! Ahahahaha!"

"I'm just a girl." Runo said in a mocking voice, quoting what the boys said to her earlier. "What do I know about battling anyway?"

"Well get ready to watch and learn! The hard way!" Tatsuya then inserted a Pyrus Bakugan into the launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then shot out the Bakugan towards his own gate card to battle Runo's Juggernoid. "Bakugan Stand!"

A vortex of flames appeared as a Pyrus Garganoid entered the battled. Checking his Baku-pod, Lincoln saw that Juggernoid was at 320 G's while Garganoid was at 330. "Ha! Alright Garganoid, time to make turtle soup! **Gate Card open**!" Tatsuya's gate card then glowed and showed itself to be an elemental gate card.

Flames covered the battlefield as Runo check her Baku-pod. "_Garganoid power increase by 1-0-0 G's._" The Baku-pod said as it showed Garganoid going up to 430 G's.

"You're done girly! Get em Garganoid!" Tatsuya ordered as Garganoid roared and sent a wave of fire out of its mouth and towards Juggernoid.

"Heh, if you think that scares me then you're a bigger idiot then you look." Runo mocked as she pulled out an ability card and-

"Wait Runo! Not that one!" Suddenly Lori stopped Runo from playing the ability card causing both her and Lincoln to look towards her. "That's a defensive ability. But that won't help if your opponent already has a higher base power than yours. In a situation like this, you should counter instead of defend."

Runo's eyes widened slightly as she took in Lori words, but then nodded as she pulled out a different ability card. "**Ability Activate: Haos Freeze!**" Runo then threw the ability card at the sky. Suddenly storm clouds appeared in the sky and a bright yellow lightning bolt back down from the sky and struck Garganoid. When the light disappeared, it showed Garganoid frozen in place.

"WHAT?! What happened?!" Tatsuya yelled in shock and confusion about his Bakugan suddenly being completely frozen in place.

"That's the power of the Haos Freeze card!" Runo said as she pointed to her Pyrus using opponent. "It freezes all Bakugan in the battle and prevents you from using any sort of abilities. While it won't nullify the gate card, this next move will make it so that won't matter." Runo then took another Bakugan and threw it towards the gate card Juggernoid and Garganoid were on. "Bakugan Brawl! Haos Saurous stand!"

Tatsuya then watched as Runo brought another one of her Bakugan into battle. "Hey! You can't just bring another Bakugan into battle like that! That's cheating!" Tatsuya accused as he pointed at Runo.

However, Runo simply smirked and waggled her finger. "Actually, it isn't in this case. Haos freeze not only pushes the pause button on my opponents Bakugan, but it allows me to add another Bakugan into the brawl so long as its also a Haos Bakugan."

"_Juggernoid and Saurus combined power adds to 6-1-0 G's._" The Baku-pod explained as it showed Juggernoid and Saurus's power being added together with Saurus having a power level of 290 G's. Both Haos Bakugan roared as they both struck the defenseless Garganoid at the same time causing the Pyrus Bakugan to glow and revert back to ball form and land at Tatsuya's feet.

"No way!" Tatsuya yelled as Runo's Bakugan glowed yellow and returned to her hand. "You gotta be kidding me."

"Oh, don't be such a baby. Take your loss like a man!" Runo yelled with a mocking smirk.

"Great job Runo!" Lincoln said as he gave his friend a smile.

"Thanks…but can I ask you both something?" Runo said quietly causing both Loud siblings to raise an eyebrow. "Please, don't help me out for the rest of the battle."

Needless to say, this took them both off-guard. "B-But I don't get it Runo." Lori stuttered with confusion evident in her voice. "I thought that-"

"Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the help." Runo cut off Lori as she gave the eldest Loud child a small smile. "Its just…I'm not always gonna have others around to help me out. I need to battle for myself. Trust me, I do appreciate the help and I'm sure there will be times when we'll all battle together…but for situations like this I need to be able to do things myself."

Both Lincoln and Lori looked to each other as they thought about what Runo said. While friends should always help and be there for each other, Runo had a point. There would be times and brawls where it would just be one of them with no one to help aid them. So, it wasn't the smartest move to completely rely on someone else being there to fight with or help you out. "I say we leave her be." Leonidas suddenly cut in, snapping the two Louds out of there thoughts. "She wants to fight her own fights. Gotta respect that."

The Ventus and Darkus brawlers looked to Lincoln's partner before smiling and nodding. The two siblings then looked to Runo and said in unison. "Got get him Runo!"

Runo gave a bright smile in response before giving a strong nod. "Don't worry! I got this!" The bluenette reassured them before Runo's partner Tigrerra floated up to Runo's face.

"Use me Runo." The Haos Bakugan told her partner.

However, Runo simply shook her head in response. "No. I got a plan Tigrerra. This guy is easy to read, so I know this is going to work." Runo told her partner before grabbing her Saurus. "Alright Saurus, you're up! Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then threw her Saurus at her own gate card. "Bakugan Stand!" And with that, Saurus was once again brought into battle.

"Enjoy that win while you can because its not happening again!" Tatsuya yelled as he inserted another Bakugan in his launcher and shot it out towards Runo's gate card. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Griffon Stand!" The Pyrus Bakugan then landed as it opened up and with a roar, a Pyrus Griffon was pitted against Runo's Saurus.

Runo checked her Baku-pod and saw Griffon was at 340 G's while her Saurus was at 290. "Good luck fighting fire without fire!" Tatsuya said with a smirk as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Fire Wall!**" Griffon roared as its whole body was covered in flames.

"_Saurus power reduction by 5-0 G's._" The Baku-Pod showed the effects of Griffin Fire Wall dropping its power down to 240 G's.

"Use me!" Tigrerra insisted as she saw Griffon charge its flame coated body towards Saurus.

"Don't worry Tigrerra! I knew this was exactly what he was gonna do!" Runo said with a smirk as she rose up her hand. "**Gate Card Open: Pyrus Activate****!**"

Right as Griffon was only a little bit away from Saurus, the Pyrus Bakugan started to slow down as the Flame Wall around Griffon disappeared as energy from it was transferred into Saurus. "_Gate Card swapping power levels."_ The Baku-pod explained as it showed the G power of the two Bakugan switching with Saurus now being at 340 and Griffon at 240.

Saurus then roared as he punched Griffon in the face, sending the Pyrus Bakugan back and reverting back to ball form at Tatsuya's feet.

"Seriously?!" Tatsuya yelled in anger at yet another one of his Bakugan being defeated with Runo still having all three.

"And that's how its done." Runo said with a victorious smirk as she caught Saurus in her hand. Tigrerra gave a little mumble in response. While she was glad Runo was winning…she really wanted to get to battle herself.

"And now for the grand finale!" Runo then grabbed a gate card and threw it out at the field. "Alright Saurus, lets do this one more time! Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then threw Saurus at her recently placed gate card. "Saurus stand!" Saurus roared as it once again entered battle.

"That's it! No more Mr. Nice Guy!" Tatsuya yelled as his temper had reached its max. He then inserted his last Pyrus Bakugan into his shooter. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then shot it out towards the card Saurus was on. "Pyrus Fear-Ripper Stand!"

The Bakugan then landed on the gate card as it glowed with a Pyrus attributed Fear-Ripper glaring down at Saurus. "That's it Fear-Ripper! Rip her Saurus apart and show no mercy!" Fear-Ripper quickly responded to Tatsuya's orders and charged at Saurus, ready to tear the Bakugan apart with its claws and send it right to the Doom Dimension and-

"**Gate Card Open!**" Runo suddenly raised her hand as she commanded her card to open up. "**Triple Battle**!" Suddenly a light barrier appeared between Fear-Ripper and Saurus with the Pyrus Bakugan no longer being able to go any closer to Saurus.

"Hey, what's going on?" Tatsuya asked with confusion as Fear-Ripper tried to tear apart the light barrier with its claws but to no avail.

"Yeah, sorry but I'm kinda sick of losing my Bakugan." Runo explained as she glared at the Pyrus user. "This _is _supposed to be a game." Runo then smiled as she looked into her open hands where Tigrerra was. "Right Tigrerra?"

"You humans are always full of surprises." Tigrerra said while following up with a little giggle.

"Don't worry, I've saved the best for last." Runo told her partner. "With you and Saurus working together, you can easily take down his Fear-Ripper. Now go on, Saurus is waiting for you." Just then, Saurus looked back at the Haos user and Haos Bakugan and nodded.

"I promise that Fear-Ripper won't know what hit him!" Tigrerra said determinedly before closing up into a ball.

"I knew I could count on you!" Runo cheered as she reared her hand back. "Alright! Here we go! Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then threw Tigrerra towards the gate card Saurus and Fear-Ripper were on. "Tigrerra stand!" Tigerra then opened up as she glowed brightly, and her true form was unleashed onto the battlefield along with Saurus. Tigrerra resembled a lion white fur and black stripes. He had green eyes with a scar going through her left eye and had yellow spikes on her back with black stripes on them along with sharp teeth and yellow claws.

Tigrerra let out a lion-like roar as she and Saurus faced Pyrus Fear-Ripper. "Are you ready Saurus?" Tigrerra asked her fellow Haos Bakugan.

"Never more." Saurus said with a nod.

Fear-Ripper then decided it had waited enough and charged at the two Bakugan with claws at the ready. The Pyrus Bakugan got ready to slash them, but Saurus quickly grabbed Fear-Rippers hands as Tigrerra jumped back. As Saurus held the Pyrus Bakugan back, he looked back at Tigrerra and looked her in the eye. "Springboard! Now!"

"Got it!" Tigrerra said as she charged forward and jumped on top of Saurus back and using her fellow Haos Bakugan to proper herself at Fear-Ripper.

"**Ability Card Activate: Crystal Fang!**" Runo yelled as she pulled out and activated one of Tigrerra's exclusive abilities. Tigrerra's claws then extended as she slashed Fear-Ripper across the face and chest. This caused Fear-Ripper to roar in pain as it glowed red and reverted back to ball form.

"No way…" Tatsuya said in disbelief as his finale Bakugan landed at his feet. He had lost. "How's she do that?"

Runo smirked as Saurus and Tigrerra roared in victory and-

* * *

Lincoln, Leonidas, Lori, Runo, and Tigrerra were now sitting on the hill that was next to the river. Tatsuya had quickly ran away after he lost against Runo and now the group were just relaxing by the river. "Gotta admit Runo, you have mad battling skills." The oldest Loud sibling compliment.

Runo gave Lori a smile in response. "Thanks, that guy was nothing." Runo said in a calm yet confident tone.

"I must give my compliments as well human." Runo looked to her hands and smiled at her partner Bakugan words. "Your patience and skill in battle surpassed anything I've ever witnessed before."

"Wow, coming from you I am totally honored." Runo said as she looked Tigrerra in the eyes. "But you do know that you, Saurus, and Juggernoid that did the dirty work. Oh, and I hope you don't mind me saying, but you were really cute back there."

"No, hehe, I don't mind." Tigrerra said with a small giggle.

"Hey look she's blushing." Lincoln point out which cause the humans in the group to start laughing.

"I must give credit where credit is due." Leonidas said from atop Lincoln shoulder. "Tigrerra, you were a rather powerful battler."

"Why thank you Leonidas." Tigrerra said to the Darkus Bakugan. "From a powerful warrior such as yourself that is high praise."

"Hpmh, don't expect it to often." Leonidas grunted as he turned his back to the Haos Bakugan.

Runo puffed out her cheek in annoyance. Leave it to Leonidas to give a quick compliment and then go back to being a jerk. Before Runo could voice her complaints to the Darkus Bakugan-

"Hey guys!" The group looked back and saw Dan running towards them waving his hand in the air. They all turned and faced Dan as he came up to the group scratching the back of his head. "Good, I caught ya. Any chance you guys have seen my Baku-pod?"

"Yep. Got it right here." Runo said as she pulled Dan's Baku-pod out of her pocket. "Catch."

Runo then threw the device towards Dan with the Pyrus user easily catching it and putting it back on his wrist. "Alright!" Dan cheered as he looked over the device that was now on his wrist. Dan then turned on his Baku-pod and checked for anything and quickly saw that he had a message. "Woah! A message from Masquerade!"

"Oh, don't bother with that." Lincoln told his Pyrus using friend. "Runo took care of it."

"Wait what?" Dan said with some surprise. "What do you mean Runo took care of it?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself." Lori said with a smirk as she and her brother got up. "Meanwhile, me and Lincoln gotta get home."

"Yeah, don't wanna miss our show!" Lincoln said as tonight was when the dreamboat would be on. A show his whole family watched together. "We'll see ya guys later!"

And with that, Lori and Lincoln headed back to Vanzilla, leaving Runo to explain to Dan what happened and putting an end to another day.

* * *

**_Yeah, not to much different from canon but with a chapter/episode like this there doesn't need to be to much change. This was about Runo and about Runo it was! But don't worry, there are gonna be MAJOR changes to the next chapter! So remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter..._**

**_"A Combination Battle"_**


	8. A Combination Battle

**_Merry day after Christmas everyone! I hoped you all enjoyed the Holidays whether you were spending time with your friends and family, or busy stuffing your face with a Christmas feast. Either way, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year. With that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter._**

* * *

It was a sunny day at Royal Woods Michigan, and currently the screams and laughter of people of all ages could be heard coming from the local amusement park Dairy Land. And yes, it was an amusement park based completely around stuff like cows and Dairy products.

And currently, the trio of Dan, Runo, and Lincoln, along with the trio of their Bakugan partners, were spending the day at the park together…with the former two currently in a bit of a debate.

"Ah don't be a wimp Runo!" Dan yelled at the blue haired girl. "Let's do the Milk-Shaker next!"

"I wanna ride the Ferris Wheel!" Runo yelled back as she got into Dan's face.

"Milk-Shaker!" Dan yelled back.

"Ferris Wheel!" Runo yelled, clearly not giving up her argument.

"Oh whoopee, a big wheel that goes round and round, what a blast." Dan said sarcastically which only serves to annoy Runo even more.

"Just because it doesn't spin you around at 100's of miles an hour till you lose your lunch doesn't mean it won't be fun!" Runo yelled back at Dan with a look of anger and annoyance on her face.

Meanwhile, as the two continued their argument, standing in front of the two was Lincoln Loud looking at his arguing friends with a deadpanned expression and sweat dropping with Leonidas on his shoulder. "They have been at this…for 15 minutes!" Leonidas let out in an impatient tone.

"Yeah I think it's a new record." Lincoln groaned as Dan brought up something about buying Runo a corndog. "By the time they stop the park will probably close."

"Let's ditch em." Leonidas quickly suggested as he turned to face his partner. "Come on, let them settle this while we keep having fun. They have no one to blame for missing out on stuff but themselves."

Lincoln simply sighed in response and slowly shook his head. "No, we can't do that. What kind of friends would we be if we ditched-" However, Lincoln stopped himself as he noticed Runo smack Dan upside the head and the two's argument and yelling increased ten-fold. "Yeah ok let's go."

"Good choice." Leonidas said as Lincoln started tiptoeing backwards away from the his two arguing friends. Once he was a reasonable distance away, Lincoln turned around and started speed walking away and looking around the park as Leonidas spoke up again. "So, what next?"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure." Lincoln said as he looked around at the various Dairy Land rides. "I guess the Milk-Shaker and Ferris Wheel are nice but I wanna look around for a bit. Gotta make every ride count ya know."

"True, I really liked the Cheese Grater. Hehe, so many screaming people." Leonidas said with a chuckle making Lincoln nervously sweat drop. "Eh, but I'm down for whatever."

"Well at least we won't get into an argument like Dan and Runo." Lincoln said as he let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he and Leonidas were better at coming to an agreement then Dan and Runo. "Alright, Dairy Land, what do you have in store for u-OUF!"

Suddenly, Lincoln and was cut off and Leonidas was sent flying and screaming off of Lincoln's shoulder as the Loud boy suddenly bumped into someone and both he and the person he ran into were sent to their butts.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Leonidas screamed as he bounced on the ground and tried to land next to Lincoln. Luckily, he managed to land right in front of Lincoln's foot and opened back up to look up at the person his partner ran into. "Hey! Watch were you're going buddy!"

"No, its fine Leonidas. I should have been watching where I was going." Lincoln said as he rubbed his head and looked up at the person he ran into. Based on their height they seemed to be Lincoln's age, but their face was hidden by a gray hoodie they were wearing and were using to hide their identity. Lincoln quickly got up and dusted himself off while putting Leonidas back on his shoulder. "Here, let me help you up."

Lincoln then grabbed the stranger's hand and helped them stand back up, but in doing so their hoodie suddenly became loose and came off there face. When Lincoln looked as he got the person back on their feet, his face turned to one of surprised as his eyes widened at who he was looking at. "Haiku?!"

Sure enough, it was the 11-year-old goth herself. Haiku's eyes widened as well as Lincoln called out her name. After a few moments of awkward silence, Haiku quickly pulled her hand away from Lincoln and covered her face with the hoodie and started running away.

It only took a second for Lincoln to gain his focus back and quickly started running after the goth girl. "Haiku wait!" Lincoln called out as he kept his eyes locked on the hoodie wearing goth girl. Luckily there wasn't a ton of people around today, so Lincoln didn't have the too much trouble with people getting in his way of his pursuit of Haiku. "Please wait up! I just wanna talk!"

"Go away!" He heard Haiku yell at him as she ran away. Lincoln had to admit, she was pretty dang fast. It also confused him as to why she was hear and why she was telling him to go away. He had thought that A, a goth wouldn't really be interested in a place like Diary Land considering his sister Lucy wasn't the biggest fan, and B, he had thought that the two of them had become rather close friends lately so he didn't get why she was running away from him.

"Lincoln! Throw me!" Leonidas held as he looked at the still running Haiku. "I can catch her!"

Lincoln kept running and looked to his partner and nodded. Leonidas closed back up as Lincoln grabbed him and reared his hand back. "Alright buddy, make this count." Lincoln told his partner before throwing him. "Bakugan Brawl!"

"Here I come!" Leonidas yelled as he was thrown towards Haiku. Haiku didn't hear the Darkus Bakugan however and Leonidas ended up hitting Haiku dead center on the back of her head.

"Ow!" The goth let out as although the strike didn't make her fall, it did make her stumble forward and caused her to stop running.

After hitting her head, Leonidas bounced back to Lincoln to which his partner expertly caught him and put the Darkus Bakugan back on his shoulder and ran up to the goth girl before crouching down and putting his hands to his knees as he took deep breathes. "Haiku…please stop running…I just…wanna talk…to ya."

Haiku looked to Lincoln, with an expression on her face that could be classified as both embarrassed and afraid, before completely covering her face with her baggy grey hoodie again. "Lincoln…please…" the goth asked in a pleading tone. "Just forget you saw me here."

"But why?" Lincoln asked as he regained his breath. "Come on Haiku, I just wanna talk."

Haiku was silent for a moment or two as she shook before releasing a deep breath and hugging herself. "Ok…fine." Haiku finally gave in and turned to Lincoln while still hiding her face. "But let's go somewhere more private so no one can see us."

Lincoln rose a brow at Haiku's desire to stay hidden, but if that made her more comfortable then he'd go along with it. Soon enough, the two humans and one Bakugan found themselves standing behind the small area of Dairy Land where the bathrooms were located. "Good call." Leonidas said as he took a look around. "No one else would come back here."

"Alright Haiku, so now that we're alone, tell me." Lincoln began saying as he looked at a rather embarrassed Haiku who was averting her gaze from the white head. "So, what are you doing here in Dairyland? I didn't think you'd be interested in a place like this."

"Well, its kinda just that." Haiku answered with rather shy tone and mannerism's which Lincoln had to admit were adorable. "Most goths wouldn't even get this place a glance but…I love it."

"Really?" Lincoln asked with his interest now touched and a brow raised. "How come?"

"Well…" Haiku slowly began as she pulled her hoodie off her head. "I've only been goth for a year or so. It was your sister that got me into this lifestyle. I rather enjoy this lifestyle very much, before I really didn't know who I was. Just another face in the crowd with no personality. But there was always something that made me happy. Here. My parents always took me here every few months since I was 5 and I always had fun. So even after going goth, I kept coming here in secret, sort of a break from the darkness."

Lincoln and Leonidas were completely silent as Haiku told her story. "Wow, Haiku…" Lincoln silently let out after Haiku finished talking.

"So why do you have to keep it a secret?" Leonidas asked in a confused tone. "Just seems like a huge hassle."

"Because I can't let the Morticians club, or any other goths find out about this." Haiku explained as she hugged herself and averted her gaze from Lincoln and the Darkus Bakugan while her cheeks dusted pink. "If I was ever seen here, I'd probably be kicked out and shunned by all of them." Haiku then grabbed Lincoln by his shirts collar and pulled him in close and looked him in the eye with a pleading look. "I'm begging you Lincoln; you _can't _tell anyone this. Not even Lucy, please!"

Lincoln quickly rose up his hands and gave Haiku a gentle smile. "Don't worry. I promise your secret is safe with me." Lincoln reassured his goth friend in a friendly tone. "Lucy actually has her own break from the darkness herself that I've been keeping a secret for about 5 months so far. So, you can trust us with your own secret break from the darkness." Lincoln then looked to his partner who was still on his shoulder. "Right?"

"Ugh, yeah fine." Leonidas said with a sigh. "Secrets safe."

"Thanks." Haiku said as she let go of Lincoln and back away from him with a blush on her face. "You're a true friend Lincoln."

"Anytime Haiku." Lincoln said with his sincerest tone. "Hey, how about this, since were both here and I know about your little darkness break, why don't we spend the day here together. It might be really fun."

"Really?" Haiku asked with a genuine smile coming to her face. "You aren't here with anyone else?" Haiku would have been surprised if Lincoln was here by himself considering all his sisters and the number of friends he has.

"Well…I _was_ here with Runo and Dan." Lincoln explained with a sweat dropped as he remembered exactly how he left his two friends when he ditched them. "But they got caught up in an argument and knowing those two they could be at it for hours, so I decided to kinda go off on my own."

"_Ahem!"_ Leonidas cleared his throat aggressively.

Lincoln let out a sigh with an eye roll. "Ok, _we_ went off on our own." Lincoln repeated, this time including Leonidas.

"Well…" Haiku said before giving Lincoln a smile. And not on of her usual tiny smiles you would need a microscope to see, but a true sweet smile. "I guess having someone to enjoy my time in Dairy Land with would be nice."

"Well then what are we waiting for." Lincoln said enthusiastically as he started to walk away from behind the bathrooms. "Let's go!"

Haiku put a glove covered hand over her mouth to muffle a giggle that came out of her. "Alright, I'm coming." Haiku then started to follow the white head back to the main area of the dairy themed amusement park.

* * *

The two then found themselves walking next to each other and looking at all the different rides, games, and food stands. As they were walking, their hands would occasionally brush against each other causing both to blush a bit and move their hands away and apologize to each other. "Oh brother." Leonidas groaned out after the fifth time this happened. He swore they were doing it on purpose at this point.

"So…what looks good to you?" Lincoln asked as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly with a dust of pink on his cheeks.

"Well… maybe-" However, as Haiku was talking suddenly two familiar faces came running up to the two.

"Hey Lincoln!" Dan yelled as both he and Runo quickly approached the two. Haiku quickly turned around and pulled the strings of her hoodie to hide her face from Lincoln's approaching friends. Once the two were in front of Lincoln and Haiku, they both faced Lincoln and seemingly ignored Haiku. "Hey where'd you go man you just ditched us?"

"My idea." Leonidas quickly said causing Dan to gain a tick mark on his head.

"Well I'm not surprised." Runo said while giving a side glare to Dan. "All of Dan's yelling probably annoyed you off."

"Hey, you were yelling as much as me if not more and louder!" Dan yelled as he turned to Runo. "Besides it was probably your voice that burst his eardrums!"

"My voice?! What's that supposed to mean!?" Runo yelled with fire in her eyes. "You're the one with the annoying voice! At least I have feminine charm!"

"Feminine charm? Ha! More like feminine annoyance." Dan mocked with a smirk on her face which only fueled the flames of Runo's temper.

"Geez, Lincoln wasn't kidding." Haiku whispered to herself in an annoyed tone. "These two never really stop arguing."

However, despite her volume, Runo and Dan seemed to have heard Haiku and turned to the hoodie wearing goth girl. Haiku seemed to have sensed their gazes fixate on her and flinched. "Hey, wait a second Lincoln's who this?" Dan asked, having just noticed the hoodie wearing figure.

"Yeah, some friend of yours?" Runo followed up on.

Haiku started to sweat nervously as Lincoln gulped and tried to find the right words to say. "Um, well, you see…" Lincoln stuttered nervously as he was trying super hard not to have to reveal that it was Haiku to Dan and Runo. But just then a miracle came in the sounds of people clapping. Looking, Lincoln saw quite a number of people in front of a stage. Looking at the stage itself, Lincoln saw what looked like two twin bothers preforming a magic act. "Hey check it out! A magic show! Let's go check it out!"

Lincoln then quickly grabbed Haiku's hand and started heading over to the show with Dan and Runo quickly following close behind. "Nice save." Leonidas whispered to Lincoln.

Once the four of them headed into the crowd of magic watchers, they looked at the twin brothers more closely and saw that they both had brown eyes and one of them had red hair with bangs covering his right eye and the other twin having purple hair with his left eye being covered.

They watched as the brothers did a trick involving a bouquet of flowers appearing from a small container that seemed to have disappeared. "Woah!" Runo cheered as the rest of the crowd clapped.

"Awesome!" Dan cheered as the brothers suddenly made the flowers disappeared under their sleeves.

"Hpmh, hardly impressive." Haiku muttered as she crossed her arms with an unimpressed expression on her face. "That can hardly be called true magic."

"Well its still pretty entertaining huh?" Lincoln said with a sweat drop. "At least it's just good old-fashioned fun."

"Ladies and Gents, for this next trick we'll need two volunteers." The twin with the red hair announced.

"Anyone here interested?" The purple haired twin asked.

Dan and Runo were quick to raise up their hands and start waving them around and asking to go up. Lincoln simply shrugged and said, "Why not?" And raised his hand as well.

Both twins put a hand to there chins as they looked at the three members in the audience raising their hands. "Hmmm…how about…you two!" The red-haired twin pointed his finger to Lincoln and Haiku. "You with the white hair and the one wearing the hoodie. Come on up here!"

"Alright!" Lincoln cheered with a pumped-up fist while Dan and Runo groaned. "You wanna go Haiku?"

"I…I'm not sure Lincoln…" Haiku said nervously as she tried to completely cover her face with her hoodie. "What if someone sees me…"

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Lincoln told her in a comforting tone as he held his hand out to her. "Don't you trust me?"

Haiku was silent for a moment before a faint blush came to her face and she slowly took Lincoln's hand. "Yes…I trust you." Haiku and Lincoln then started heading to the stage together.

"Alright, so what do we have to do?" Lincoln asked as Haiku stood close by his side.

"We'll start with a card trick." The red-haired twin said as he gestured to the table next to him and his brother.

"Go ahead and pick a card, any card." The purple haired twin told the two as he spread out a deck of what seemed like normal playing cards on the table.

"They aren't even fortune cards." Haiku said under her breath. "Just cheap illusions."

"Come on, its all in good fun." Lincoln told the goth girl before looking to the spread-out cards. "Now let's see…how about…this one!"

Suddenly the brothers gave wicked grins as Lincoln lifted up the card and-

"WHAT?!" Lincoln yelled as a shocked expression came to his face.

"That card…" Haiku said as her face became serious. "Its dark aura is powerful."

"The Doom Card!" Leonidas yelled as the card in Lincoln's hand was indeed the card that sent defeated Bakugan to the Doom Dimension.

"What?!" Dan and Runo yelled as they suddenly pushed through the crowd and onto the stage, causing the crowd to become confused. Once the Pyrus and Haos users were on stage behind Lincoln and Haiku, they gasped as they saw the Doom Card for themselves.

"That's twisted!" Dan yelled as the brothers gave the group of four wicked grins.

"So, your working with Masquerade huh!" Lincoln yelled at the two magician brothers.

"Hehe, that's quite right." The red headed teen confirmed as he and his brother stood side by side. "Allow me and my brother to introduce myself, I'm Kenta."

"I'm Kenji." The purple haired teen introduced himself.

"Alright, so you must be Lincoln, Dan, and Runo." Kenta said as he pointed to each induvial, he mentioned. He then looked to Haiku and said. "And I have no idea who you are but I'm guessing your somehow aligned with them given how close you seem to be with Lincoln."

"Wh-Whats that supposed to mean?" Haiku quickly asked as pink came to both her and Lincoln's cheeks.

"I believe you know what we mean." Kenji said with a smirk. "But anyway, Masquerade says you're all the ones to beat! So, you up for battle."

"Always!" Dan said with a pumped-up fist.

"Yeah, we'll take you on!" Runo followed up.

"Hey hold on." Lincoln said as he turned his head to the two of his friends. "I'm the one they challenged so I'm the one that should take em on."

"Don't you mean…_we_." Lincoln looked to Haiku when she said that as the white head watched as the goth girl reached into the pocket on her hoodie…

And pulled out a field card!

"What?! You play Bakugan?!" Lincoln yelled in complete surprise. "Since when?!"

Haiku simply smirked and raised up her card. "I guess I'm full of surprises today huh?" The goth said in a tone that made Lincoln blush.

"Hey hold on, how come you two get to battle?!" Dan yelled in protest as he was already feeling pumped up for a brawl. "Besides, I don't even know that guy, who are they Lincoln?"

"Yeah! Plus, I want in on this to!" Runo yelled after Dan finished.

"Look, its not important who this is." Lincoln quickly brushed revealing Haiku off. "The point is they challenged us so we should be the ones following through!"

"Plus, you two really wouldn't make a great team." Haiku said extremely bluntly.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" The Pyrus and Haos users yelled in unisons.

"That's exactly what I mean." Haiku said with a sweat drop.

"So, is everything settled?" Kenji asked as he and his brother pulled out their field cards.

"We're ready when you are!" Kenta followed up as he, Kenji, Lincoln, and Haiku all raised up their field cards.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" All four said in unison with Kenji's, Lincolns, and Haiku's cards glowing purple and Kenta's glowing red as the Bakugan field opened around them.

Once the field was open, Haiku quickly stripped off her hoodie, leaving her in her normal cloths as the twin brothers grabbed their doom cards. "**Doom Card set**!" Kenta and Kenji said in unison as they dropped their doom cards onto the field which caused two waves of purple energy to spread throughout the field.

"Alright Haiku, whatever you do don't lose." Lincoln informed the goth girl as they grabbed their gate cards. "When the Doom Card is played, the losing Bakugan don't get sent back to you…they get sent to the Doom Dimension. Forever."

"Thanks for the tip." Haiku thanked as now all four brawlers had their gate cards ready. "Then we won't lose."

"**Gate Card set!**" Lincoln, Haiku, Kenta, and Kenji all threw their gate cards at the field with Lincoln's landing in front of Kenta, Haiku's landing in front of Kenji, Kenji's landing in front of Lincolns, and Kenta's landing in front of Haiku.

Kenta was the first to go as he inserted a Pyrus Bakugan into his launcher that all of Masquerade's goons possessed. "Alright, Bakugan Brawl!" Kenta then shot the Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Pyrus Robotallion stand!"

Just as Kenta's Robotallion glowed and entered battle, the Pyrus magician quickly pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card activate: Robotallion Reinforcement!**" Kenta then threw the card towards his Robotallion causing the Bakugan to absorb the power of glow with a red aura.

"_Pyrus Robotallion power increase by 5-0 G's." _The Baku-pod said as it showed Robotallions power increasing to 380 G's.

"380 G's huh?" Lincoln hummed as he checked his Baku-pod. "And I'm guess his Gate Card will pump the power up on his Bakugan even more."

"Yeah, you're right." Haiku said as she pulled out a Darkus Bakugan. "Leave them to me." Before Lincoln could say anything in response, Haiku reared her hand back and threw the Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Haiku threw the Darkus Bakugan towards Kenta's Robotallion. "Darkus Ravenoid stand!"

Haiku's Bakugan opened up and coming into battle and flying up high into the air was a Bakugan that resembled a bipedal crow with armor over its body. "_Ravenoid enters battle at 3-5-0 G's." _The Baku-pod explained as it showed Haiku's Ravenoids power level.

"Ha! You've just made a grave mistake!" Kenta said with a smirk on his face as he rose up his hand. "**Gate Card open-**"

"**Ability Card activate: Shadow Scratch!**" Before Kenta could finish opening up his gate card, Haiku activated an ability and threw the card at Robotallions shadow.

"What?! What happened?!" Kenta yelled as his gate card failed to open. "Why won't my gate card open!?"

"Shadow Scratch is an ability exclusive to Ravenoid." Haiku began explaining as her Ravenoid started flying up high into the air. "It prevents my opponent from opening up their gate card while also increasing Ravenoids power by 50 G's."

"Then that mean-" Kenta yelled as Ravenoid made a power screeching noise as it flied down at Robotallion at high speeds and proceeded to kick the Pyrus Bakugan in the face causing it to glow red and return to ball form and land at Kenta's feet. "No!"

"And that's how its done." Haiku said with a calm expression as her Ravenoid turned back to a ball and returned to her hand.

"Woah! That was amazing Haiku!" Lincoln complimented as he gave the goth girl a grin. "How'd you get so good at Bakugan?"

Haiku proceeded to blush at the compliment and turned her face away from Lincoln. "It…Its nothing really. I'm just good at reading people." Haiku then shook her head to get rid of her blush. Once it was gone, she looked at the Magician brothers with narrowed eyes. "And like I said, these two are all simple tricks know nothing of the true mystic arts. I can read them and their little 'tricks' easily. That and the fact they both wanted to challenge as together says a lot about what their strategy might be."

"Hey yeah you're right!" Lincoln said with widened eyes of realization. "I bet they're gonna try all sorts of combination tactics and team up moves." Lincoln then smirked as he pulled out a gate card. "Well now that we know what they are planning, let's throw them off their game! **Gate Card set**!" Lincoln then threw a gate card that landed right next to Kenji's card.

"Alright Monarus, its game time!" Lincoln said as he pulled said Bakugan out of his Bakugan holder on his belt. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Monarus towards his second gate card. "Bakugan stand!" With a bright flash of purple light, Monarus opened up and entered the battle.

"These two are better than we thought." Kenji said as he inserted a Darkus Bakugan into his launcher. "We gotta be more careful from now on." Kenji then launched his Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Bakugan Brawl! Mantris Stand!" Both Lincoln and Haiku watched as Mantris entered the battle and looked down on them.

"Darkus and Pyrus huh?" Lincoln said with a smirk. "I had a feeling that's what they were going for. That only proves that they are really going for combinations."

"My turn brother!" Kenta said as he threw a gate card down next to Haiku's gate card. He then inserted a Bakugan into his launcher and shot it out towards the gate card he just threw down. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Siege stand!"

"_Siege stands at 3-4-0 G's." _The Baku-pod explained as it showed Kenta's Siege coming into battle.

"Alright Lincoln, I need you to listen to me carefully." Haiku told the Loud boy before whispering her plan to Lincoln. Lincoln nodded for a bit before his eyes widened when she finished. "Do it!"

"Huh, well its your call kid." Leonidas told Lincoln as he had overheard the plan.

"Are you sure about this Haiku?" Lincoln asked with some doubt in his tone. "If something goes wrong or they pull a trick outta their sleeves then-"

"Like I said Lincoln, I can read these two like a nursey rhyme." Haiku told Lincoln as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I said I trust you earlier…do _you _trust _me_?"

Lincoln was taken aback by this a bit, but then gave Haiku a smile and nod. "Yeah…I trust you." Haiku gave a true smile once again to Lincoln in response as the white head pulled out another Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw the Bakugan towards the gate card where Kenta's Siege was. "Darkus Siege stand!"

With a powerful roar, a Darkus attributed Siege stood and faced down his Pyrus counterpart. "You shouldn't have done that!" Kenta said as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Linking up Pyrus and Darkus!**" Activating the diagonal link, Kenta's Siege and Kenji's Mantris glowed with their respective attribute as Siege went up to 440 G's and Mantris went up to 450 G's.

'_We got them now._' Kenta thought with a wicked grin on his face. '_His Siege is only at 350 G's and if he does anything to raise his power the Rank Zero card will bring it back down and give his Bakugan a one-way trip to the Doom Dimension!'_

However, as Kenta thought this Haiku suddenly pulled up a unique looking Darkus Bakugan and lightly pressed it against her forehead. "Are you ready?" She asked in a quiet tone.

"_Yes my queen."_

"Huh?" Lincoln let out as he swore, he heard a new voice coming from his side.

Before he could question further, Haiku threw the Bakugan that was in her hands at her own gate card. "Bakugan Brawl!" The ball then landed on Haiku's card as it opened up to show a Bakugan that had a humanoid shape and wearing a mask. "Darkus Kabukito stand!"

The Bakugan glowed as coming onto the battlefield was a female Bakugan wearing a Kabuki mask over her face. Her hair was black with bangs going all the way to her knees and the rest of it done up to resemble bunny ear. What could be seen of her skin was purple and she wore an oversized black kimono with purple highlights. The sleeves were extremely over sized with two long whip-like appendages coming out of them.

"How may I serve you my queen." The new Bakugan asked her partner with a Japanese accent.

"Woah! A talking Bakugan!" Lincoln said with an extreme amount of surprise in her voice. "Haiku, when did you get a talking Bakugan of your own?"

"Just 2 nights ago." Haiku begun explaining to the Loud boy. "We found each other when I was at the graveyard connecting with the spirits."

"Yes, and it was the spirits that led me to Haiku." Kabukito began adding in her own part of the story. "I was connecting with the spirits myself when suddenly they told me to go out and find the one that I was destined to aid. They led me to Haiku, and I could tell that she also had a connection to the spirits as well. It was then that I could tell she was the one the spirits led me to and so I vowed to serve my queen in any way I could."

After the Darkus Bakugan explained everything, she turned to Lincoln and, despite wearing a mask, Lincoln could tell she was smiling at him. "Lincoln Albert Loud." Kabukito said despite not having met Lincoln before today. "The spirits speak rather highly of you. Especially on who goes by the name Harriot. I shall treat you in the same manner as my queen. I shall do my best to serve you."

"Oh…wow…thanks." Lincoln said awkwardly as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. '_Well at least I know Great Grandma Harriot likes me.'_

Leonidas then slowly turned to his partner and said slowly. "Me think she weird."

"Be nice." Lincoln told his partner. "At least she's helping us." Lincoln then checked his Baku-pod and saw that Kabukito was at an impressive 360 G's.

"Well what a heart-warming story!" Kenji yelled with a sarcastic smirk on his face. "To bad I'm about to separate you two! **Ability Activate: Marionette!**" Kenji's Mantris's eyes glowed as string-like appendages came out of Mantris's arms and made their way towards Kabukito.

"**Counter Ability Activate!**" Haiku then pulled out her own ability card as the appendages came closer to her partner. "**Spiritual Leech!**"

"Very well my queen." Kabukito said with nothing but loyalty in her voice as the appendages reached her…and phases right through the Darkus Bakugan.

"What?!" Kenji yelled as his ability was rendered useless as Mantris's marionette ability simply passed through Kabukito as if she were a ghost. "How'd you do that?!"

"Spiritual Leech is an ability only Kabukito can use." Haiku began explaining as she showed her opponents the ability card. "It makes Kabukito completely immune to attacks while she's using it, and it allows her to take power away from any opponent on the field so long as they've raised there power by 100 G's or more."

"_Power transferring." _The Baku-pod said as it showed the power that Mantris gained from it and Siege linking up going from it to Kabukito as Mantris roared in pain.

"Well it won't stop me!" Kenta yelled as he waved his arm forward. "Siege! Battle!" Siege roared as he followed Kenta's command and charged at Lincoln's Darkus Siege.

However, Lincoln simply smirked as he pulled out his own ability card. "**Ability Activate: Crimson Twister!**" Monarus responded to the ability and started spinning around at great speeds and creating a purple twister that spread all the way over to the Pyrus Siege and carried the Bakugan off the gate card and brought it over towards Monarus cards. "Sorry but Crimson Twister is an ability only Monarus's can use and it lets me take a Bakugan and move it to anywhere on the field. And now that I have you where I want you, **Gate Card open: Energy Merge!**"

Lincoln's gate card then glowed as energy started transferring from Siege to Monarus. "No they did it again!" Kenta yelled as he followed it up with a growl.

"Wait a minute." Kenji said with narrowed eyes. "They both used energy siphoning attacks after we linked up, which means…" Kenji's eyes then widened in realization as he glared and his and his brother's opponents. "You played us!"

"Like a fiddle." Lincoln said with a smirk. "Haiku figured you guys all out so she thought that once you two linked up to boost your power, we could simply take that juice for ourselves." Once Lincoln was done talking, both the energy merge card and Kabukito finished siphoning energy from each Bakugan they were facing as Siege went back down to 340 G's as Monarus was now at 430 G's while Mantris went back down to 350 G's with Kabukito now at 460 G's.

"Oh, and before I forget." Haiku begun saying as a small smirk came to her face. "The Spiritual Leech card allows Kabukito to attack opponents from different cards so long as they are adjacent to her. So…"

"Attack!" Both Lincoln and Haiku yelled in unison. Monarus flew tackled Siege in response causing the Pyrus Bakugan to go back to ball form and land at Kenta's feet.

"No! Not again!" Kenta yelled in frustration as Siege landed in front of him on the ground.

"You need to respect my queen!" Kabukito yelled at the Darkus Mantrix as she raised her arms up before lowering them back down violently and slamming all four of her whip-like appendages at Mantris causing it to roar in pain as it glowed and was went back to ball form and landed at Kenji's feet.

"Way to go Haiku. Your plan worked perfectly." Lincoln compliment as his Monarus and Kabukito glowed and went back to Lincoln and Haiku's hand respectively.

Once Kabukito was in Haiku's hand, she opened up and looked up at the goth girl. "Your thinking was most brilliant my queen." The Darkus Bakugan told her partner.

Haiku lightly blushed at the compliments she was getting. "It was nothing." She said modestly as she brushed a hand through her hair. "I was just trying to keep our Bakugan safe."

"I can't believe it." Kenji said in disbelief as his Bakugan landed at his feet. "They've been reading us perfectly this whole time."

"Well it ends now!" Kenta yelled aggressively as he pulled out a gate card. "We won't be beaten brother!"

"Kenta wait!" Kenji urged his brother to slow down, but Kenta didn't seem to listen as he threw down the gate card where the gate card that Monarus and his Siege were on used to be.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Kenta then shot out his last Pyrus Bakugan on the gate card he just put down. "Pyrus Garganoid stand!" With a roar and a spinning vortex of fire, Kenta's Garganoid came into battle.

"Kenta, just listen to be!" Kenji urged his brother.

"No Kenji!" Kenta yelled at his brother. "I'm the one who taught you how to play Bakugan! I know more about the game then you do!" Kenta then looked back at the battlefield and smirked. "Besides, there's no way they'll see this card coming."

Both Lincoln and Haiku looked to each other before nodding as Lincoln took Leonidas into his hand. "Ready to get in there?" Lincoln asked his partner with a smirk.

"Anytime. Anywhere!" Leonidas said as he closed up into a ball.

"Alright, lets go!" Lincoln said as he reared his hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then threw Leonidas at the gate card where Garganoid was at. "Leonidas stand!" With a mighty roar, Leonidas flew up to Garganoid's level and gave a challenging glare to his opponent.

"Ha! I have you now!" Kenta yelled with a smirk. "**Gate Card open: Level down!**" At Kenta's command, the gate card glowed as Leonidas roared in pain as he was sent down to the ground.

"Leonidas!" Lincoln yelled as his partner seemed to be weakening. '_Dang it! I thought it was gonna be a quartet battle card!'_

"I got you this time!" Kenta yelled with a victorious smirk. "The level down command card brings a Bakugan down by 100 G's if its power level is 400 or more! Now Garganoid finish him!" Garganoid roared as it quickly flew down towards Leonidas.

"Heh…you think…its gonna be that easy to take me down!" Leonidas yelled as he stood back up with some struggle. "Do it Lincoln!"

"Right!" Lincoln yelled back as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Nightmare Shredder!**"

"Let's see how your damn gate card like this!" Leonidas's claws then glowed purple and extended to great lengths as he stabbed his claws into the ground. This caused the command card to crack before completely shattering.

"_Gate card nullified."_ The Baku-pod said as it showed Leonidas's Nightmare Shredder destroying Kenta's gate card and bring Leonidas's power back up to his base 400 G's while Garganoid stood at 330 G's.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Kenta yelled as Leonidas grabbed his Garganoid by the foot as it tried to strike the Darkus Bakugan.

"Let's see how you handle this magic boy!" Leonidas mocked ass he slammed Garganoid on the ground be violently stomping on it causing Garganoid to roar in pain as it glowed and was sent back to ball form and landing at Kenta's feet. Kenta had lost the game.

"I…I lost…" Kenta quietly said as his last Bakugan was out with Leonidas glowing and going back to Lincoln's hand.

"I tried to tell you brother." Kenji scolded his twin.

"What?!" Kenta yelled back at his purple haired twin.

Kenji simply smirked in response. "You had your chance brother so now its up to me to finish this." Kenji then threw his gate card at a free space before inserting a Bakugan into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then shot out the Bakugan towards the gate card he just put down. "Darkus Reaper stand!"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes at the Bakugan that just entered the brawl. "So, we meet again boy!" Reaper said as he looked down at Lincoln with his blood red eyes.

"It would appear to Reaper." Lincoln said as he looked to Leonidas in his hand again. "Ready for round two?"

"Reaper won't know what hit him." Leonidas growled as he went into ball form.

Lincoln nodded at his partner before rearing his hand back and throwing Leonidas at Reaper's gate card. "Bakugan Brawl! Leonidas stand!" Leonidas let out a might roar and he and Reaper quickly began to clash.

"The Doom Dimension awaits you my friend! Hahahaha!" Reaper laughed manically as he tried to swipe Leonidas with his scythe.

"You can't get rid of me that easily Reaper!" Leonidas yelled back as he slugged Reaper in the face.

"And now everything comes together!" Kenji said in a victorious tone as he held out his hand. "**Gate Card open: Quartet Battle!**"

The gate card glowed as Kenji's last Bakugan came out of his pocket and flew towards the battle and stood at Reapers side showing itself to be a Darkus Centipoid. At the same time Kabukito closed back into ball form and was sent flying towards the gate card and stood and was now standing by Leonidas side. "It looks like we shall fight together." Kabukito told her fellow Darkus Bakugan in a respectful tone.

"Just don't get in my way." Leonidas growled viciously with his eyes never leaving Reaper.

"Alright, **Consecutive Ability's Activate!**" Kenji yelled as he pulled out two ability cards. "**Reaper of Chaos! Spiced Assault!**" Both Centipoid and Reaper glowed with their attribute energy as their power levels increased.

"_Calculating power levels." _ The Baku-pod then showed Centipoids power increasing by 100 and going up to 460 with Reaper's going up by 130 and adding up to 500 and their power levels adding together to make 960 G's. Meanwhile Spiced Assault dropped Leonidas and Kabukito by 100 G's causing their combines powers to go down to 560.

"This is the end for you!" Reaper yelled as he and Centipoid charged at Leonidas and Kabukito.

"You ready?" Lincoln asked Haiku with a smirk.

"Of course." Haiku responded as she and Lincoln pulled out an ability card.

"**Ability Card Activate!**" Both Darkus Brawlers said in unison. "**Darkus Gravity!**" In response to the ability card, Lincolns Darkus Siege flew out of his Bakugan holder and flew towards the gate card.

"Siege stand!" Lincoln yelled as Siege joined Leonidas and Kabukito's side.

"Darkus Warius Stand!" Haiku yelled as her own Darkus Bakugan was set into battle. Warius was an ogre-like Bakugan with heavy armor covered in spike and wielding a double-sided mace.

"_Recalculating power levels._" The Baku-pod showed Darkus Siege and Warius both at 350 G's and combing power levels with Leonidas and Kabukito's to add up to 1260 G's.

"Come my allies!" Kabukito said as she and her 3 allies charged at Reaper and Centipoid. "Let us strike them down!"

"NOOOOOO!" Kenji yelled as the four opposing Darkus Bakugan all struck his own Darkus Bakugan at once and-

"We lost." The twins said in unison as the field closed around them and the brothers were both on their knees in defeated as Lincoln looked down at them with a victorious smirk with Haiku quickly putting her hoodie back on before anyone could see her. "Its over." The twins then threw a white cloak over themselves and suddenly disappeared. The crowed muttered in confusion but then clapped as they assumed it was the finale of the magic show.

"So, I'm guessing you two won?" Runo asked as Haiku covered her face with her hoodie again.

"Heh, piece of cake." Lincoln said with a smirk and thumbs up.

"Like taking out the trash." Leonidas followed up on.

"Well I guess ya did good." Dan sighed out as he still wished he could've battled. "Now, where we're we?"

"I believe we were going on the Ferris Wheel next." Runo stated as she crossed her arms and smirked.

"No way!" Dan yelled back as he and Runo glared at each other as they started their argument again. "Milk Shaker!"

"Ferris Wheel!"

"Milk Shaker!"

"Ferris Wheel!"

"Milk Shaker!"

"Ferris Wheel!"

As the two continued their argument, Lincoln and Haiku simply walked away together and were walking through the amusement park again. "Wow, those two really do argue a lot." Haiku muttered as they walked away from the two arguing friends.

"Tell me about it." Lincoln said with an eyeroll before looking to Haiku with a smile. "So when did you start playing Bakugan? You were really good!"

"Thanks, and about five months ago." Haiku said as she gave Lincoln a tiny smirk. "Check the rankings for me."

Lincoln rose his eyebrow and simply went to his Baku-pod and opened up the world-wide rankings and typed in Haiku's name. "_Haiku ranked at 82."_

"Woah! You're higher than me right now!" Lincoln said in amazement as currently he was ranked 88 with Dan right behind at 89.

"I try." Haiku simply said before looking at the sky and saw that the sun was going down. "The parks gonna close soon. We can probably hit one more ride. Any preferences?"

"Hmmm," Lincoln hummed as he put a hand to his chin. "Ya know after that brawl, a ride on the Ferris Wheel sounds nice and relaxing right now."

"Ferris Wheel it is then." Haiku said as she started walking forward. "Follow me, I know a shortcut." Lincoln didn't say anything and simply smiled and followed the goth girl.

* * *

Soon enough the two reached the Ferris Wheel and thankfully the line was short so the two were quickly able to get into a cart together. While inside, the two were simply silent as the wheel slowly rose them up allowing the two to look out an enjoy the view of the area around them as the sun slowly set upon the town and park.

Soon enough the two found themselves at the very top of the wheel where they were given a perfect view of the area around them as the sun was now in the perfect position in the sky were orange light shined down on everything.

"Wow…its beautiful." Lincoln slowly said as he looked out the cart of the Ferris Wheel.

"It is quite the sight huh." Haiku said despite having her usual monotoned look and tone back.

The two simply stood next to each other in silence and admired the view from the top of the Ferris Wheel. Just then, after a few moments, Lincoln let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head. "Hey Haiku…about the Sadie Hawkins Dance-"

Haiku cut off Lincoln with a sigh as a small but amused smile came to her face. "Relax Lincoln, I already told you it was fine." The goth reassured her friend. "You didn't know what your sisters were going to do, you tried to make us all happy, and you ended up owning to it in the end and apologizing. You don't need to do it again."

"Well, it's not _exactly _that." Lincoln told Haiku making her raise a brow in interest. "I guess I'm more sorry that I didn't just stick around you." Haiku was a bit taken aback by this as her cheeks went pink. "I kinda wished I just stayed around you back then. If I had maybe we would have been hanging out like this more often. Since I've gotten to know you, I found out what an awesome girl you are and you're actually really fun to be around, goth stuff and all."

Haiku's cheeks were now bright red after Lincoln finished talking. "Oh…" Haiku managed to let out as she felt like she was stuck in place. "Well…would you believe me when I said no boy has ever said that to me before. Before I went goth no one really noticed me, and after most just found me weird and creepy and just tried to stay away. Even the male members of the mortician's clubs don't really show any big interest in me other then just a friend and club member."

Lincoln was silent for a moment and simply looked out the window as he took in Haiku's words. "Well…that's their loss." Lincoln finally said. "Because you're a great girl that any guy would be lucky to have."

Haiku felt her hearts skip a few beats before it started to beat fast. She just couldn't handle all the nice things Lincoln was saying to her at once. She couldn't even find a response to make as her eyes simply glued onto the orange lit land below…and sparkled without her even know.

While taking deep breaths Haiku's head unconsciously moved to rest on Lincoln's shoulder with the goth girl simply letting it happen and not going anything about it. Lincoln didn't seem to do anything about it as a smile came to his face and his arm moved on its own and wrapped itself around Haiku and pulled in close as the two 11-year-olds simply admired the view together.

About 20 minutes later, the Ferris Wheel came back around with Lincoln and Haiku getting out together. "Well, today was certainly an eventful one huh?" Lincoln asked the goth with a smile who was using her hoodie to cover her red face. While Lincoln seemed to be unaware of it, she quickly caught on to the position the two were in at the top of the Ferris Wheel.

"Uh-huh…definitely." Haiku let out quietly.

"Well, I should probably find Dan and Runo so we can all go home." Lincoln informed her as he pointed a thumb behind himself. "But we should totally do this again sometime. I'll text ya later Haiku!"

All Haiku gave was a silent nod as she watched her white-headed friend walk away. Once he was gone and Haiku was alone, the goth girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a golden locket. She pressed a small button on it and opened it up to reveal a picture of the vampire she told Clyde she was in love with during the Sadie Hawkins dance.

Haiku was dedicated to her love for this vampire…until today. As she looked at the picture, she did something she'd never thought she'd do. She took the photo out of the locket, rose it up into the air…and let go. She watched as the locket sized picture blew away with the wind and soon disappeared out of sight.

Haiku was silent during all of this as Kabukito suddenly jumped up onto Haiku's shoulder and opened up and looked to the goth. "Are you alright my queen?" The Darkus Bakugan asked with concern.

"…Yeah…I am." Haiku answered as a soft smile came to her lips. "In fact, I've never felt better."

* * *

_**I'm sure you can all tell I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I just enjoy writing cute moments and I made sure to have plenty of them in this chapter. And don't worry, there will be plenty more cute moments in the future for many characters. As well as plenty of action packed Bakugan Brawling! So make sure to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter...**_

_**"A Snake you can Trust."**_


	9. A Snake you can Trust

_**HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!**_

_**Today marks, not only a new year, but a brand new decade as we go from the 2010's to the 2020's! I can't wait to see everything this decade will have not just for me, but for all of us.**_

_**And with the new year comes a new chapter for this story. I've been looking forward to this one a lot and had so much fun writing it. Needless to say, Lori needs more love then she gets in both the show and ESPECIALLY the fandom. **_

_**So I guess its up to me! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**_

* * *

Currently, everyone favorite white-headed boy and everyone's favorite Pyrus brawler were spending some time at Gus's Games and Grub to enjoy a day of fun since both of them had nothing to do that day. Yeah, they could go out looking for some Brawls, but both decided some R&R time would be good as to not overexert themselves. So today they decided to spend a bit of time at the local arcade and pizzeria before going to Dan's house and going over some potential strategies for dealing with Masquerade and his lackies.

And the game they were enjoying together was a nice friendly game of air hockey. The two seemed to really be into it as they were hitting it back in forth and refused to give in as their Bakugan partners cheered them on from their respective shoulders. "Come on Lincoln! Keep it up!" Leonidas cheered as Lincoln kept returning Dan's fast and aggressive pucks.

"Don't give in Dan!" Drago cheered as Dan kept hitting the puck back with a smirk on his face.

"Just give up now Lincoln!" Dan said as the two kept at it. "I can do this all day!"

"Yeah well…" Lincoln said with a smirk as he suddenly caught the puck with his paddle and clenched his stomach. "Oooo! Ow! Ow! Ow! I have a pain in my goallooklike!"

Dan lowered his guard and looked to Lincoln with a confused expression. "What's a goallooklike?" The Pyrus user asked his white-headed friend.

Lincoln then used the opportunity to strike the puck right into Dan's unguarded goal and earning him a point. "That's what a goal look like!" Lincoln told Dan with a smirk as the Pyrus user gained a tick mark on his head.

"Ahahahahaha!" Leonidas laughed hard. "Nice one kid!"

"I can't believe you fell for that Danial." Drago said with a disappointed in his voice.

"Alright that's it!" Dan yelled as he took the puck out and slammed it on the table. "No more mercy ya hear me Lincoln."

"Oh, I hear ya loud and clear Dan." Lincoln said as he readied his paddle for Dan's without a doubt more aggressive shot's.

And when Dan shot the puck-

"Hey you two."

Lincoln caught the puck again as both Darkus and Pyrus users looked to the entrance and saw Lori coming into the arcade and approaching. "Oh, hey Lori." Lincoln greeted his sister with a smile.

"What's up?" Dan asked as he rose a brow at the eldest Loud siblings' presence in this place. "We're kinda in the middle of something right here."

"Yeah, sorry about this but Dan's mom called me and asked to bring you home." Lori told the two as she twirled the keys to vanzilla in her hands. "Says its time to come home."

"Aw man that bites." Dan groaned as he put his paddle down and started walking towards the exit. "Well at least we were heading there afterwards anyway to make some battle plans to deal with Masquerade."

"Ooo, you'll have to tell me some of them." Lori asked as they both started walking out. "Don't forget I'm in this to."

"Oh wait, before we go." They looked back and saw Lincoln still at the air hockey table with the puck under his paddle. Just then he shot the puck right into Dan's completely unguarded goal.

"GOAL!" Leonidas and Lincoln shouted in unison.

"Aw come on!" Dan yelled in irritation as Lori simply smirked and giggled a bit.

A little later, Lori was driving Vanzilla towards the Pyrus users house with Dan and Lincoln sitting next to each other behind the two front seats. Lincoln and Leonidas were simply watching something on the formers phone while Dan was awkwardly shifting his eyes around the van. "Is something wrong Daniel?" Drago asked as he faced his partner. "You seem tense."

Dan didn't answer the Pyrus Bakugan's presence at first and simply looked outside and saw they were almost at his house. It was then he decided to ask what was on his mind. "Ok I'll bite." Dan said to Lori causing the blond to look at him through the mirror. "What's the catch for picking us up? You wanna borrow Drago or something?"

"I _never_ agreed to anything like that." Drago was quick to say afterwards.

Lori simply rolled her eyes in response and told the Pyrus user. "Relax Dan, there's no cost. I'm not asking for anything in return." The eldest Loud sibling explained.

Needless to say, Dan was taken a bit back by this and leaned back in his seat. "Woah seriously?"

"Lori hasn't asked for anything for rides in 5 months." Lincoln told his Pyrus using friend as he looked up from his phone. "I thought I told you."

"What are you talking about?" Drago asked in a confused tone as he was simply looking back and forth between the humans talking.

"Oh, Lori always used to make other people do favors if they wanted her to take them anywhere." Dan explained to his partner as he rested his head behind his hands. "Stuff like homework, doing her chores, and other junk like that."

"Well that was the old Lori." Lori told the Darkus and Pyrus users in the back. "Seriously Dan, I'm just doing this to be nice."

"Alright, alright, chill out." Dan said as he raised his hands up. "I believe ya."

"Well good because we're here." Lori said as she pulled up to Dan's house. "Alright I'll see you two later, and Lincoln, don't forget to tell me those strategies against Masquerade."

"Will do Lori!" Lincoln told his oldest sister as he and Dan got out of the van. "See ya later sis." Once the two boys were out of the van, Lori gave them a quick wave before she started driving away.

"Alright, I know its been months now, but I'm still not used to her being so nice." Dan told Lincoln causing the Loud boy to roll his eyes in response. "I mean come on, you have to admit she used to be kind of a jerk."

"How big of a jerk?" Leonidas asked as he looked at Dan from his partners shoulder. "I wanna keep my title."

"Ok, she was a bit…_rough. _Just a bit." Lincoln carefully said which Dan responded with a blank look. "Ok, maybe she was kinda mean, but ever since the Bakugan cards fell she's been an awesome sister."

"Hehe, yeah." Dan said with a chuckle. "They seemed to have done a lot of good for her."

"Really?" Drago asked with interest in her voice. "Bakugan changed her?"

"Yeah it was something alright." Lincoln said as he looked at the sky with a small smile on her face. "It seems ever since that day she's become a lot closer to me and the rest of our family. She helped us make all the rules and gives me advice all the time and such. And even outside it just seems a lot better between us and we can just spend more time together doing…whatever."

"Hmph, all this sweetness is making my teeth rot." Leonidas said with a grunt. "Can we just head inside and think of ways to kick Masquerades ass already?"

"Alright fine Mr. Grinch." Lincoln sighed out followed by an eyeroll. "Come on Dan, lets go." And with that, both boys headed into the Kuso household.

* * *

Back at the Loud House, Leni Loud was currently in her and Lori's rooms doing one of the things she does best. Making cloths. She was currently busy came cloths based around the Bakugan attribute that she was most fond of, Haos. The dress she was making was primarily white with yellow highlights over it.

As Leni was hard at work on the Haos dress, the door to her room opened and her roommate Lori came into the room. "Hey Lori!" Leni greeted her older sister with a smile. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much." Lori answered with a shrug as she started walking to her desk where her computer was located. "I literally just took Dan and Lincoln over to Dan's house so other then that I'm completely free. So, I think I'm gonna spend some time going over some of my Bakugan strategies and rankings."

"Cool!" Leni replied with a big smile as she looked up from the dress she was working on. "You know this is, like, a really nice change of pace for you Lori."

"What do you mean?" Lori asked as she sat down in front of her computer. "Nothing seems different to me."

"Well, like, I mean your overall attitude and schedule." Leni started explaining as she put a finger to her chin as she tried to think of the right words to say. "Like, before Bakugan it seems all you ever did was talk to Bobby, worry about your social life, and boss us around like a tyrant."

"Gee, thanks sis." Lori said with a blank tone and expression. "I can always count on you for encouragement."

"I wasn't trying to encourage you then." Leni said in her usual dumb tone causing Lori to face palm. "What I'm saying is that now you just seem a lot happier!" This statement confused Lori as her eyes widened in response. "Its like, you smile for often and are a lot nicer to everyone and you just enjoy yourself and have fun more often."

"Huh, I guess I haven't really noticed." Lori shrugged with a small smile on her face as she turned to her computer. "I guess when the Bakugan cards fell and I agreed to help Linky and his friends try to figure out what they were, and then help make the game rules I just wanted to make an effort to get along with everyone and I guess that kinda translated to my everyday life as well."

"Well I really like what it's doing for you." Leni said as she continued to sew the dress. "I like seeing my big sis happy and its nice you get along with the rest of the family to. You even took off all those ridiculous locks to our room."

"Guess I also wanted to stop shutting everyone out." Lori said quietly as she logged onto the Bakugan website. "I guess Bakugan also helped me realize not only what great siblings I have, but friends as well so I guess I wanna try and open up for to everyone."

"Aaaaaw." Leni gushed as she briefly set down the dress and sewing equipment and went over to give her big sister a hug from behind the chair. "Who's my favorite big sister."

"I'm your _only_ big sister." Lori said with an eyeroll but with a small smile on her face.

"Exactly." Leni immediately responded back as she continued hugging for a few more seconds before separating and leaning against the chair. "So, how's the ranking look?"

"Let me check on Lincoln and Dan first." Lori said as she typed her brother name into the search bar.

"_Lincoln Loud ranked 88 in top 100._" The computer said as it scrolled down to Lincoln's ranking. With this they also saw Dan right behind him at rank 89.

"Wow, Linky's doing great!" Leni cheered with a wide smile as Lori clicked on Lincoln's picture causing a screen to pop up showing data about Lincoln's battles, win-loss rate, as well as some information about his Bakugan partner Leonidas. "It feels like yesterday that was wasn't even in top 100."

"Yeah, as much of as much of a jerk Leonidas literally is, I'll admit Lincoln's been doing a lot better in battles since those two have partnered up." Lori then checked on the data for Leonidas and saw that Leonidas had a 100% win rate as an induvial Bakugan. "Geez, Leonidas just can't lose, can he?"

"Who's got the top rank?" Leni asked with curiosity in her voice as Lori clicked out of Lincoln's date screen.

However, Lori frowned at the question as she had a good idea of who to expect at the number one spot. She then scrolled all the way to the top of the list and, "_Masquerade ranked number one in the world." _ The computer showed Masquerade still standing at the top spot of the world with no signs of him being dethroned.

"Oooooh…" Leni slowly said as a frown came to her face. "That's not a happy sight…"

"You got that right." Lori said with a small growl and she looked at Masquerade's picture. "But don't worry, he won't be number one for long." Just then Lori looked a few spots below Masquerade and saw Shun Kazami dropped down to the number four spot. Letting out a sigh, Lori said. "Seriously Shun? Fourth place? Whats happened to you?"

"No ones seen him in months." Leni sadly said as she rested her chin on top of Lori's chair. "Ever since…_then_ he just doesn't seem to do much of anything outside anymore."

"Yeah…I guess I can't blame him." Lori quietly said as the sad memory quickly came to her head. "Still, I just feel like he could have put up more of a fight."

After a moment of silence, Leni put on a sad smile and nudged her older sister a bit. "Hey, why don't we see how your ranked?" The ditzy blond suggested. "Maybe seeing how close you are to beating him will cheer you up."

"Yeah! You're right!" Lori said with renewed vigor. "Alright, L-o-r-I L-o-u-d…" Lori typed her name into the search bar of the rankings and the list quickly scrolled down to find herself.

"_Lori Loud ranked 74 in top 100._" The computer said as it showed Lori's ranking.

"Nice! Literally 7 places higher since I last checked!" Lori cheered with a pumped-up fist. "I'm doing good!"

"Yeah you really are Lori!" Leni complimented making Lori smirk and puff her chest out confidently. "You're just one spot below Carol!"

Lori froze. Her eyes widened as she slowly looked at the spot above her ranking. _Carol Pingrey. _Leni looked to Lori and heard her growling and saw her started to clench her fist and started to slowly back away from her older sister. "You…have got…to be…KIDDING ME!" Lori practically roared as she stood up and slammed her fist against the desk. "Since when does she even play Bakugan?!"

"I dunno." Leni answered with a shrug. "But she must be good if she's ranked 73 in the world. I'm only 213."

Lori simply huffed and narrowed her eyes at Carol's picture as she crossed her arms. "Ugh, typical! Perfect Carol Pingrey has to one-up me in everything I do. Like selling cookies, becoming homecoming queen, and even golf!"

"Hey, you almost beat Carol at all those things." Leni said with a sheepish smiling, hoping that would calm her sister down.

It didn't work at all as Lori simply stomped her foot on the ground. "No! I have had it! I've worked too hard on this! On making the rules! On developing all my strategies! I refuse to let Carol be a better Bakugan player then me! I swear on my senior parking space, I will beat Carol in a Bakugan Brawl!"

* * *

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

At the Royal Woods high school, Lori was currently sitting at the lunch table in the gym with the rest of her friends Becky, Whitney, Dana, and Chaz and were having a discussion as they were eating. "So, is it true your brother actually has a talking Bakugan?" Whitney asked with an excited grin as she's heard plenty of rumors over the web about the talking Bakugan and the two most common Bakugan that come up when searching for it are Pyrus Dragonoid belonging to Dan Kuso and Darkus Leonidas owned by Lincoln Loud.

"Oh yeah, Leonidas." Lori said with a nod as she took a bite out of her salad. "He's…a handful. But Lincoln really likes him and the two have really grown close together. Plus, I can't deny that he's literally super powerful in battle."

"Chaz is impressed." Chaz referred to himself in the third person with a chillaxed smirk on his face. "The little dude seems to be a good brawler."

"Well, I did literally teach him everything he knows." Lori said pridefully while raising her head up. Just then she felt someone poking her shoulder and looked to Dana who was the one doing it. "Look." Dana said as she pointed behind Lori.

Lori looked and her eyes narrowed as she saw Carol walking across the lunchroom. Carol was a girl about Lori's age with long blond hair that was the exact same shade as the eldest Loud sibling. She had black earrings and a purple head band, she wore a purple shirt with a white collar and cuffs, purple eyeshadow, and purple socks along with a brown checkered pattern skirt and brown shoes. "Carol…" Lori let out a low growl as she saw the girl walk past her.

"Are you really gonna challenge her?" Becky asked with a curious look. She's known Lori for a while and so she knew this day would come sooner or later. Although if you asked her back then she would have never guessed it was Bakugan that Lori would challenge Carol in.

Well, the time was now. Lori got up from her table and quickly started walking over to her rival. The tension she was exerting seem to get the attention of nearly every other student as they looked over to see the eldest Loud sibling walking over to Carol. Even Lori's siblings, which included Leni, Luna, and Luan, stopped talking to their friends from their tables and watched as their sister approached Carol.

"Hey Pingrey!" Lori yelled as she stopped when she was about 5 feet away from Carol. At this point her fellow Highschool students were getting up from their tables and surrounding the two of them, acting like an audience.

Carol stopped when she heard her name, well last name, being called and looked behind her and flinched as she saw Lori looking at her with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. "O-Oh…uh, h-hey Lori." Carol stuttered as she gave the oldest Loud child a nervous smile.

"I think you know whats up Mrs. _73." _Lori told her rival making Carol flinch again. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you? You just had to one-up me in the Bakugan ranks huh?"

At this point the crowd of students started muttering about the topic to each other causing Carol to get more nervous. "Look, Lori, this isn't what you think it is." Carol quickly said, trying to find the right words to say to defuse the situation. "I'm sure we-"

"Enough talking!" Lori said as she quickly pulled out her field card. "Let's settle this the proper way! Carol Pingrey, I challenge you to a Bakugan Brawl!"

"Oooooooo!" Most of the students around them let out in response.

"Lori, look-" Carol tried to say but was once again cut off as Lori pointed her card at her.

"Less talking, more Brawling!" Lori loudly said back to her rival.

Carol simply let out a sigh as she finally pulled out her own field cards "Alright, fine." Carol relented as Lori smirked. "If that's what you want."

"That's more like it!" Lori said with a smirk as both she and Carol rose up their cards.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" Both 17-year-olds said in unison as Lori's card glowed green and Carol's glowed yellow as the Bakugan field opened around them.

"Time to show her what a real Bakugan player can do." Lori said as she and Carol each pulled out a gate card.

"**Gate Card set!**" Both Carol and Lori each threw their gate cards onto the field opposite of each other and making them expand.

"Alright, I'll go first." Carol said as she grabbed another gat card and threw it to the left of her original gate card. Carol then pulled out a Haos Bakugan and reared her hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Carol then threw the Bakugan at her original gate card. "Haos Mantris Stand!"

With a bright yellow growl and bug-like hiss and growl, a Haos attributed Mantris came into battle and looked down at Lori. Lori quickly checked her Baku-pod for information about her opponent. "_Haos Mantris stands at 3-5-0 G's. No other data available." _The Baku-pod explained as Lori looked up at the Bakugan.

'_Alright, she uses the Haos attribute.' _Lori thought as she started to strategize in her head. '_Haos Bakugan aren't known for high G power or brute strength, they're about getting the jump on your opponent and using abilities and gate cards that can either lower G-power or send in reinforcements.' _Lori then smirked as she grabbed a gate card and threw it to the right of Carol's original gate card. '_Alright, I know what to do! There's no way I'll lose!'_

"Get ready Carol, I'm about to literally school you!" Lori said confidently as she grabbed a Ventus Bakugan and reared her hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then threw the Bakugan towards her original gate card. "Ventus Falconeer stand!" With a loud bird-like call, Lori's Falconeer flew high above the gate card it stood on.

"Alright, lets get this started!" Carol said as she threw her third and final gate card right above her second gate card. "Bakugan Brawl!" Carol then threw another Bakugan at her 3rd gate card that was right next to the card that Falconeer was one. "Haos Tuskor stand!" With a powerful trumpeting sound, a Bakugan that resembled an elephant came into battle.

'_Hold on, this doesn't make sense.' _Lori said in her head as she looked over the battlefield. '_Why would she send out all of her gate cards and two of her Bakugan at the beginning of a battle. If she used Aquos I would guess she was trying to pull of a tsunami but with Haos…what's she planning?"_

"Well, are you gonna go?" She heard Carol yell from the other side of the battlefield. "I haven't got all day ya know!"

Lori growled in response as she picked up another one of her Ventus Bakugan. "Oh I'll _go_ alright." Lori muttered under her breathe as she reared her hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then threw the Bakugan towards her second gate card. "Ventus Siege stand!" Carol and Lori looked up as the armored Bakugan stood onto the battlefield.

'_Alright, time to put the plan into action!_' Carol thought with a smirk as she grabbed her last Haos Bakugan and reared her hand back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Carol then threw her Bakugan at the card Lori's Siege was on. "Haos Stinglash Stand!"

Lori narrowed her eyes as she checked her Baku-pod and saw that both her Siege and Carol's Haos Stinglash were tied at 340 G's. "What's she trying?" Lori questioned before she looked up and saw Carol holding an ability card.

"**Ability Activate: Nose slap!**" Carol activated the ability causing her Tuskor to let out a trumpet sounding roar as its trunk suddenly extended greatly in length and started attacking Lori Falconeer on the neighboring gate card. "Nose slap is an ability that allows Tuskor to attack opponents on adjacent gate cards. Oh, but I'm not done yet!"

"**Ability Activate: Lightning Tornado!**" Carol then threw the ability card towards her Stinglash causing it to roar as lightning coating its body.

"_Haos Stinglash power increase by 1-0-0 G's. Ventus Siege power decrease by 1-0-0 G's." _The Baku-pod said as it showed Stinglash raising to 440 G's and Siege lowering to 240.

"I've gotta do something!" Lori said as she held out her hand out. "**Gate Card open: Character!**" Siege's gate card then opened revealing it to be a character card which doubled Sieges G power to 480. "Just enough." Lori then grabbed an ability card and used it. "**Ability Activate: Blow Away!**"

Lori then threw the gate card at Carol's Tusker, which has been trying to hit Falconeer with its trunk with the Ventus Bakugan being able to dodge the hits, causing a green tornado to appear under Tuskor and lift it up and drop the Haos Bakugan down at the gate card Falconeer was on. Lori then quickly opened the gate card up showing it to be an attribute gate card that brought up the Ventus attribute power. "Alright Carol, let's see ya beat that!"

"Why don't I show you!" Carol yelled back as she held her hand out. "**Gate Card Open: Quartet Battle!**" The gate card Mantris was on then glowed as suddenly Lori's last Ventus Bakugan floated up on its own and was shot towards the gate card.

"Hey wait a minute!" Lori yelled as she could only watch as her Ventus Juggernoid as forcibly sent onto the same gate card as Mantris.

"And now for the big finale!" Carol said as she pulled out her last ability card. "**Ability Activate: Haos Triple Chain Reaction!**"

Lori watched as all of Carol's Bakugan glowed with a powerful yellow aura and looked at her Baku-pod and saw that they all increased in power by 100 G's. "B-But how…" Lori stuttered as she's never seen anything like this before.

"The Haos triple chain reaction is a special Haos only ability that can only be activated when three Haos Bakugan are on the battlefield." Carol began explained as a confident smile came to her face. "It increases all my Bakugan's power level by 100 G's. I found this out by researching the top Haos brawler in the world. Its not as powerful as his own version, but it's a good substitute."

Lori gasped in surprised. Carol went on the offense with Haos Bakugan! It was a risky stradegy, but it seemed to work as Lori wasn't expecting anything like this. She was prepared to counter more so then attack this game considering what Haos Bakugan were typically known for. And now…Lori had no idea what do to.

"Alright! Attack!" Carol ordered as all her Bakugan roared as attack the Ventus Bakugan they were up against and easily overpowered them causing all three of them to glow and turn back to ball form and fall to Lori's feet.

"All three of them…" Lori muttered as she fell to her knees. "All at once." Just then the field around them started to glow and-

"Lori, are you ok?" Leni asked as she approached her sister as she picked up her Ventus Bakugan off the floor. Lori didn't give a response as Leni tried to give her sister an encouraging smile. "Hey, don't be to upset. I'm sure you came close to beating Carol."

"No, I didn't." Lori said with irritation in her voice as she picked up her last Bakugan. "She completely destroyed me."

"Oh…" Leni quietly said as she back away from her older sister.

"Are you ok dude?" Luna asked with a worried tone as she approached her oldest sister.

"I'm fine alright!" Lori loudly said as she stuffed her hands in her pockets as started walking away with the crowd of high school students parted to let Lori through.

"Hey Lori!" Lori stopped but didn't turn around as she heard Carol call out to her. "Look, no hard feelings ok. That was a good battle. Right?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Lori said under her breath as she started walking away again.

"Is she gonna be ok?" Luan asked as she joined up with the rest of her siblings as they all watched Lori walk out of the lunchroom.

"Just, give her some space dude." Luna told her roommate and older sister as they looked at the door Lori exit.

* * *

_**LATER THAT DAY**_

A few hours after school let out, Carol Pingrey could be seen walking through the park holding a Haos Bakugan in her hand and a conflicted expression on her face. "I just don't get Lori…" Carol sighed out as she stopped and looked at the Bakugan in her hand. "I mean…she has so much that I don't. I wish I could have the kinda life she has. Having a giant family." She talked to herself as she ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe I do compete with her a lot but its just so I can show her that I have the stuff to. So, what if I'm a little jealous. Its not like winning is that big of a deal anyway…"

"_You don't really think that do you?"_

Carol froze as a chill went though her body as an echoey voice suddenly spoke up from nowhere. A sudden breeze blew through the air that followed the voice. "Who's there?!" Carol yelled as she tried to find who was talking to her.

"_You know what they say. Winning is everything. If you don't win, you're a loser. And why else would you compete with her so much? Its to show Lori that you're a winner, and that she is nothing but a loser."_

"Where are you?!" Carol yelled as she started to panic and rapidly look around for the source of the haunting voice.

"_I've seen your type before. You're insecure. Thinking that everyone is looking down on you behind your back. Mocking you. Saying you're not good enough."_

At this point Carol started breathing heavily and hugging herself. The words that were being said to her really hit close to home and stung pretty badly.

"_That's why you compete. To show not just Lori, but everyone that you're the best. That you're not one to be taken lightly. To show the world that you mean business."_

Carol started shaking as she held herself hard and gulped audibly. "Who…are…you…" Carol managed to breathe out. Just then the blond's eyes widened as she quickly made a 180 turn and saw-

"My name is…_Masquerade._" The number one Brawler in the world stood in front of Carol with his aura of negative energy and devious smirk on his face ever present. Carol flinched and froze as Masquerade started stepping closer to her. "Don't deny it. You love winning. The rush in your blood. The pride in being better than your opponent. Crushing everyone in your way!"

Carol slowly started to step away from the masked brawler and started shaking her head. "No…no you're wrong!" Carol loudly said as she continued to take deep breathes.

"Oh really?" Masquerade questioned as a malicious grin came to her face. "Care to test that then?" Carol then watched as Masquerade pulled out a field card.

Carol took a few moments before putting on a brave face and pulling out her own field card. "Fine! You're on!" Carol yelled as they both raised up their field cards.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" With Carol's card glowing yellow and Masquerade's glowing purple, time stopped as the field opened around them and-

Time started again as Carol was now seen frozen in place with her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. Meanwhile Masquerade had his usual confident smirk on his face as he caught a Darkus Bakugan in his hand.

"My Bakugan…" Carol quietly let out as she fell on her knees. "Give…Give them back! Right now!"

"Sorry, no can do." Masquerade told the blond teenage girl as he walked up to her. "Once a Bakugan is sent to the Doom Dimension its impossible to bring them back. Even for me."

"But why…" Carol desperately asked as she looked up at the masked Brawler. "Why did you do that?"

"To prove my point." Masquerade answered as he looked down at Carol. "To show you how losing feels. I bet you miss that rush and feeling of victory, don't you?"

Carol muttered quietly to where Masquerade couldn't hear. But…he was right. Losing sucked, especially the loss she just suffered. She didn't even stand one bit of a chance against Masquerade and was forced to watch every one of her Bakugan be sent to the Doom Dimension forever.

Masquerade didn't need to hear her as he already had his answer. "Well I'll make you a deal…" Carol looked up to see Masquerade handing her a launcher similar to his but with yellow highlights instead of purple. "Do what I say, and I promise you everyone in your school will know that you're the best of the best. As well as giving you everything Lori has over you, if you want something in this world…"

"You _take _it."

* * *

At the Loud House, Lori Loud was currently pacing back and forth in the back yard. Her temper was flaring up due to her loss today against Carol. She just couldn't take it anymore. It seems no matter what Lori did, Bluebell scouts, golf, Homecoming Queen, and now freaking _Bakugan!_ Carol always seemed to just have to jump on board and one-up Lori.

And Bakugan had become something Lori was extremely proud of. Making the rules, building up her rank and status, practicing and playing the game with her siblings especially with Lincoln. And of course, Carol came in and showed up.

As Lori was pacing, her face started to go red with anger and she quickly ran over to the tree and proceeded to snap and started punching the tree repeatedly. "STUPID! CAROL! PINGREY!" Lori yelled with every punch she made to the bark. "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SWOOP IN AND LITERALLY BEAT ME IN EVERY SINGLE THING I DO! GET! YOUR! OWN! LIFE!"

"_Now, now, dearie. Getting angry won't solve anything."_

Lori froze and her anger seemed to have vanished as she heard an unfamiliar voice. Along with the sudden introduction, the voice's tone also helped her calm down just a little bit as it had a very comforting and even motherly tone. "O-Ok…" Lori awkwardly said as she looked around for the source of the voice.

"_Alright, now, here's what I want you to do. Close your eyes and take a deep breath in."_

Something about the voice encouraged Lori do just that. "Alright. Ok." Lori then closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose.

"_Good. Now hold it for three seconds and then release it through your mouth."_

Lori did what the voice said and held her breath in for 3 seconds before releasing it through her mouth.

"_Now breathe in again."_

Lori breathed in again.

"_Now breathe out."_

Lori breathed out.

"_Breathe in."_

Lori breathed in.

"_Breathe out."_

Lori breathed out.

"Breathe in."

Lori breathed in.

"Breathe out."

Lori breathed out.

"_Now, sit down on the ground crisscross and count backwards from 10."_

"Ok." Lori said as she sat down on the ground in front of the tree in the said position. "10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1." Lori then let out a relax sigh after saying one.

"_There, don't you feel better now dearie?"_

"You know what, yeah, I literally feel so much better now!" Lori said as a happy smile came to her face as she didn't feel any sort of anger in her system anymore. "I've never felt better!"

"_I'm glad dearie! Its nice to see you happy. We don't wanna repeat of the Sister Fight Protocol incident, do we?"_

"Ugh, don't remind me." Lori groaned out as she held her head as memories of that old and abandoned system her and her sisters came up with appeared in her head. "That was literally one of our worst mom…hey wait a minute." Lori's eyes narrowed at no one in particular. "How do you know about that."

"_Oh! How rude of me. I apologize sweetie, I just happen to catch everything that goes on in the house from up here. I've been around for about six months know and a lot of the Hijinx you and your lovely family get into always brightens my day…most of the time. Sometimes things really do go to far."_

"Yeeeeeah…" Lori admitted as she scratched the back of his head. "There's a lot that we're not exactly proud of."

"_Well the past is in the past. It's best not to dwell."_

"I guess your right." Lori agreed as she rubbed her arm. She then shook her head again to get back her focus and ask the question that's been on her mind. "So…where and who are you exactly? You said your from 'up here' right?"

"_I suppose it is rather time I introduce myself isn't it? Well just look up into the tree. You shouldn't miss me."_

"Um…ok?" Lori slowly said in a confused tone. So, some person was hanging out in their tree? That was honestly really creepy. However, when she looked up, she didn't see any sort of trace from a person. She continued looking around, but eventually caught sight of something that didn't seem to be part of the tree. Looking to one of the higher branches, what Lori saw…

Was a Ventus Bakugan.

"It's a pleasure to properly meet you face to face Lori." The Bakugan said as Lori saw that in ball form the Bakugan seemed to be some sort of half-human half-snake-like creature.

"You're…You're…a talking Bakugan…" Lori stuttered out as she starred at the Ventus Bakugan with widened eyes.

The Bakugan let out a giggle in response as she looked down at Lori. "Indeed, I am sweetie. Give me one second, I'm coming down." Lori quickly held her hands out once the Bakugan said this and allowed the Ventus Bakugan to jumped down from the tree and land in Lori's hands. "Thank you dearie! Now allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is _Chrysopeon_."

"It's very nice to meet you Chrysopeon." Lori said with an excited grin at the fact that she was holding a talking Bakugan in her hands! Just like Drago, Leonidas, and Tigrerra! "So, you said you've lived in our tree for about six months."

"Indeed I did." Chrysopeon confirmed with a giggle. "I rather enjoy high places and seeing your lovely family just brings a smile to my face. Its always nice to see when siblings show their bonds and love for each other."

"I guess family is an important thing for you huh?" Lori asked with a small smile. "Kinda like us."

"Indeed, if you ask me there's nothing more beautiful then the bonds of family." Chrysopeon told the eldest Loud sibling with a delightful tone. "Like I said I've simply watched your family's events from on top of the tree. The search for the money, trying to find your perfect roommates, the love letters, and even when you moved into the garage and realized how much you miss your family even from just a few yards away. That was just adorable~"

"Hehe, yeah I guess so…" Lori quietly said as a blush came to her cheek. "So how come you've never introduced yourself before?"

"Hm, I honestly don't have a solid answer for that dearie." Chrysopeon answered, continuing to refer to Lori as dearie. "It just never happened. But when you came home today in a fuss, I couldn't just stand around and let your anger get the better of you. I had to help in some way."

"Yeah…I guess I got pretty heated today." Lori said in a bit of an ashamed tone as she averted her gaze from the Ventus Bakugan.

"Do you want to talk about it sweetie?" Chrysopeon asked, sounding like a mother concerned for their child. Lori simply looked to Chrysopeon again and gave a faint smile.

* * *

"…It just seems no matter what I do Carol always comes in and beats me!" Lori explained as about 10 minutes later Lori had taken Chrysopeon into her and Leni's room and started explaining the situation about Carol to the Ventus Bakugan. "Literally every competition I enter, Carol always enters and always beats me! If it was every now and then, I could take it. But its like she's making an effort to beat _me _specifically."

"Hmmm, very interesting." Chrysopeon hummed as she entered deep thought. "Tell me Lori, does Carol ever rub her victories in your face?"

"Well…no." Lori slowly said as she sat down on the bed and looked across the room at Chrysopeon who was on top of Lori's desk. "Honestly, she's pretty modest about it. And a good sport. But still, why does she feel the need to do everything I do?"

Chrysopeon was silent for a few moments before coming up with an explanation. "Maybe she looks up to you."

Lori looked up at Chrysopeon with a completely confused look. "What?" Lori asked in a tone that matched her expression. "Why would she look up to _me_? She's literally perfect…"

"No one is perfect sweetie." Chrysopeon quickly told the 17-year-old. "Maybe she competes with you because she looks up to you and wants to prove herself to you in a way."

"But why exactly would she look up to me?" Lori asked again as that still baffled her.

"Hmmm, well let me ask you a couple of things." Chrysopeon said as she flew off the desk and over to Lori. "Does she have any siblings?"

"No, she's an only child." Lori answered as she's remembered hearing that Carol doesn't have any brothers or sisters.

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Chrysopeon questioned further.

"No, she's single." Lori answered once again as she knew Carol's status on Facebook said she was single.

"And what about your accomplishments? From what I've overheard it seems you've done quite a lot." Chrysopeon told the eldest Loud sibling causing Lori to look away from the Ventus Bakugan and blush. "If I remember everything correctly you've made the varsity gold team as a freshman, you're the manager of you father's restaurant, and of course you have ten wonderful siblings that all look up to you. I may not understand that much about the first two, but they sound incredible."

"Hehe, I guess so…" Lori admitted sheepishly as a blush came to her face again. "You really think she looks up to me?"

"Its quite possible." Chrysopeon said gently. "Either way, I think you should talk to her and clear this up. Who knows, instead of having a rival, you could have yourself a best friend."

Lori took in the Ventus Bakugan's words before slowly nodding. "Yeah…maybe you're right." Lori admitted as she laid down in bed. "Maybe it would help to at least talk to her."

"Thatta girl!" Chrysopeon praised the oldest Loud sibling as she landed next to Lori's face as Lori turned to her. "I'm proud of you."

"Heh, thanks Chrysopeon." Lori thanked the Ventus Bakugan as she looked into the Bakugan ball's eyes. "Hey, could you go with me to do it tomorrow. I think I'd feel more confident doing it if you were there for me. I know I've only known you for a little bit, but I already feel like I'm more comfortable around you."

"Of course dearie." Chrysopeon instantly responded with her usual motherly tone. "I'd be more then happy to you help you."

"Thanks Chrysopeon." Lori said before yawning and pulling a blanket over herself. "Well, I think I'm gonna take a nap. I'm pretty tired after today."

"Sleep well sweetie." Chrysopeon told the eldest Loud sibling as she flew onto Lori's nightstand and closed up into a ball, deciding to get some shut eye herself.

* * *

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

Lori was once again at Royal Woods high school watching her fellow high school students munch down on today's lunch. Lori had eaten rather quickly so she could do what she needed to do faster.

"Are you alright Lori?" Chrysopeon asked as she flew onto the eldest Loud siblings' shoulder. Chrysopeon kept her promise and stay with Lori through this. However, Lori had neglected to tell her family and friends about the Ventus Bakugan. She wanted to get this whole Carol thing over with before she made introductions.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a little nervous about this." The 17-year-old admitted as she leaned against the wall. "I mean I'm going from despising Carol to trying to befriend her. Its kind of a weird transition."

"You'll be fine dearie." The Ventus Bakugan reassured Lori. "Just remember went we went over and you'll be just fine."

"Thanks a lot." Lori said in a grateful tone. "I'm really glad we met each other Chrysopeon."

"I'm glad to dearie." Chrysopeon said with nothing but complete sincerity in her voice.

After scanning around the lunchroom for any sign of Carol, Lori finally spotted her in a similar place to yesterday, walking across the lunchroom. Although for some reason her eyes were shadowed by her hair and she had an unreadable expression on her face. "There! That's her!" Lori said as she pointed to the purple shirt wearing teen.

"That's…her?" Chrysopeon slowly said as she looked over Carol. "Lori…are you sure this is who you were talking about? Something seems wrong."

"What are you…" Lori was saying but as she looked to Carol again, Chrysopeon's words made some sense. Something seemed…_off _about Carol. But she couldn't put her finger on it. "Yeah, now that you say it something does seem a little wrong."

"We'll have to keep our eyes out." The Ventus Bakugan said in a cautious tone. "Still, lets walk up to her and hope for the best."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Lori said before taking a deep breath and started walking over to Carol. However, as she did this, a bunch of the students seemed to notice Lori approaching her rival and given what happened yesterday this led to most of them making assumptions about what's going to happen. So similar to yesterday, students quickly crowded around the two.

"Hey…Carol…" Lori said as she got in front of her fellow blond. But unlike yesterday, everyone saw Lori looking rather calm and timid and even a little nervous about facing Carol. "About yesterday, I just wanted to apologize. I was thinking maybe-"

"Lori Loud!" Carol yelled, interrupting Lori's apology. Carol's voice seemed to have a faint echo to it as she brought up a Bakugan card. "I don't wanna hear any of that mushy crap! Its go time!"

Lori, along with most of the students around them, gasped at Carol's words and tone. "I knew it." Chrysopeon said quietly.

"Carols…what's gotten into you?" Lori said in a surprised tone. "I'm trying to apologize for yesterday."

"I don't give a damn about your stupid apology!" Carol yelled back, the echo in her voice getting a little louder. The crowd around them was even more taken aback by Carol's unusually very rude behavior as she looked Lori right in the eye. "Now come on! Stop talking and start brawling so I can show you and everyone here who's the best of the best! Unless of course…you're _chicken_!" After making this statement, Carol turned the card she was holding around to reveal-

"The Doom Card!" Lori gasped and yelled as in Carol's hand was the card that sent Bakugan to the Doom Dimension. "That means Masquerade…" Lori couldn't even finish her sentence as she gritted her teeth and have Carol a pained look. "Carol…how…how could you be so stupid!"

"Oooooooo!" The crowd of students around them let out in response to Lori's statement.

"What did you just call me?!" Carol yelled with an enraged look.

"Carol, please listen!" Lori pleaded to her fellow blond. "Whatever Masquerade told you. Whatever Masquerade is offering you, he's lying! He's not gonna go through with anything he told you! You're just his pawn!"

"Yeah, that's where you're wrong." Carol said with a cocky smirk on her face as she equipped the launcher Masquerade gave her onto her left wrist. "He said once I take care of you and some brat named Dan Kuso, not only will this whole school know I'm the best, but I'll get everything I deserve to have! Even if it means taking it from you!"

"Taking from me…but what could she-" Lori cut herself off. She knew what Carol was talking about. Her family. What Chrysopeon said yesterday was true. Carol _was_ jealous of Lori's family. Of her siblings. And Masquerade must have promised that if Carol did his dirty work…that she would essentially replace her in the family. "Carol look…it doesn't have to be this way."

"Lori, stop." Chrysopeon interrupted the eldest Loud sibling. "We're going to have to battle her."

"W-What?" Lori gasped out in response. "But-"

"I don't want to either, but it might be the only way." The Ventus Bakugan explained as they both looked to Carol giving Lori a sinister grin. "If we win it should snap of it and bring her old self back."

Lori looked between Carol and Chrysopeon a few times before releasing a deep breath and nodding. "Alright, lets do this!" Lori said as she pulled out her field card.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" Both Lori and Carol said in unison as they rose up their field cards causing the Bakugan Field to open around them.

Carol gave another wicked grin as she dropped down the Doom Card onto the field. "**Doom Card set!**" Carol said as the Doom Card pierced into the ground before being absorbed by the field causing a wave of purple energy to spread throughout.

Lori gulped in response to the effects of the Doom Card before she and Carol grabbed a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Both teenagers then threw their gate cards across from each other.

"Let's get this over quick, shall we?" Carol said in a cocky tone as she threw another gate card onto the field.

'_Is she trying the same thing as last time?' _Lori thought as she saw Carol inserting a Haos Bakugan into her launcher. '_I can't count anything out. She's smart and unpredictable. I just need to find a way to keep her from going through with her strategies. Throw her off her game.'_

"Bakugan Brawl!" Carol yelled as she shot out a Bakugan towards her original gate card. "Haos Robotallion Stand!" Lori was snapped out of her thoughts as she saw a Haos Attributed Robotallion came onto the battlefield.

Lori then quickly checked her Baku-pod. "_Haos Robotallion stands at 3-3-0 G's._" The Baku-pod said as Lori looked up at the Haos Bakugan.

"Alright…how should I counter…" Lori muttered to herself as she reached for her cards.

"Lori wait!" Chrysopeon quickly halted Lori causing the oldest Loud child to stop and look towards the Ventus Bakugan. "Remember what happened the last time you battled her." Lori's eyes widened in response. She had told Chrysopeon about how her battle with Carol yesterday. "Haos Bakugan draw strength from numbers and working with each other. The best way to battle the Haos attribute is to take each Bakugan out one by one. And the Ventus element is the perfect way to go about that."

"Really?" Lori asked with a raised brow.

"There are plenty of Ventus abilities that are all about disrupting and getting your opponent where you want." Chrysopeon continued to explain Lori looked back on the battlefield. "Focus on disrupting each Bakugan induvially and taking it down."

Lori thought about what Chrysopeon said and then proceeded to smirk. She was right. She lost last time because she let Carol get all her Bakugan out and power up all her Bakugan. But if she took each one out when it came out, then that should guarantee victory. "Alright, I know exactly what to do!" Lori said as she took out a Ventus Bakugan.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then threw the Bakugan towards the gate card Robotallion was on. "Ravenoid Stand!" With a mighty bird call, a Ventus attributed Ravenoid flew above the card and looked down at Ravenoid.

"Challenging me head on huh?" Carol said with a smirk as she held her hand out. "Stupid move! **Gate Card open: Triple Battle!**" A light barrier then appeared between Robotallion and Ravenoid, preventing them from battling. "Alright, time to bring in my Haos Saurus and put an end to your Ravenoid!"

"**Ability Activate****!**" Lori shouted as she held up an ability card causing Carol's eyes to widen. "**Tornado Pandemonium!**" A green tornado emerged for Lori's card and completely surrounded the gate card Robotallion and Ravenoid. Both blonds watched as the light barrier disappeared and the gate card stopped glowing.

"She nullified my gate card!" Carol yelled as she quickly checked her Baku-pod.

"_Ravenoid leads by 3-0 G's." _Carol's Baku-pod said as it showed Ravenoid at 360 G's. Letting out a powerful call, Ravenoid divebombed down at Robotallion and tackled it headfirst in the chest causing Robotallion to turn back to ball form.

"Impossible! I never lose!" Carol yelled in irritation and disbelief as Robotallion fell to her feet.

"I can't believe it! I did it!" Lori cheered as Ravenoid turned back to a ball and returned to Lori's hand. "I beat Carol in a battle."

"I knew you could do it sweetie!" Chrysopeon praised the Loud girl. "But we still have two more battles to win so stay on guard!"

"Will do, and I think I know how to beat her." Lori said as she turned to the Ventus Bakugan. "But…I'm gonna need to ask you a favor."

"What is it dearie?" Chrysopeon asked as she was ready to help out if need.

"I'll need you to battle!" Lori told the Bakugan as she pumped up both of her fist. "I'll use my quartet battle gate card to bring in the rest of Carol's Bakugan. I'll send you in first and bring in Siege to back you up and with Siege's blowing halberd ability should guarantee us a win."

"An excellent stradegy. You can count on me!" Chrysopeon said as she closed up in ball form.

"Thanks, so much Chrysopeon." Lori said as she took the Ventus Bakugan into her hand. "I literally owe you one." Lori then used her other hand and set her quartet battle gate card to the right of her original gate card. Lori then took a deep breath and reared her hand holding Chrysopeon back. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then threw Chrysopeon towards her second gate card. "Chrysopeon Stand!"

Opening up as she landed onto the gate card, Chrysopeon glowed as her true formed entered battle. Chrysopeon showed herself to be a lamia-like Bakugan with the top half of a human and the bottom half of a snake. Her bottom half had light green underbelly scales with the top half scales being a darker green. Her top half had purple scales around her body that acted like a sleeveless tank top that left her belly exposed, her skin was a similar color to her bottom half's under scales. Her nails on her hands were a tar black color and were short but sharp with her eyes being pure purple along with purple hair that went all the way down to her bottom half.

"Woooooow…" Lori said in amazement as she looked up at Chrysopeon and saw that she was longer then even a serpenoid. "You're beautiful."

Chrysopeon giggled in response as her cheeks went red causing her to cover them with her hands. "Oh stop dearie." She said, and unlike most Bakugan her mouth moved as she talked. "You're making me blush."

"Heh, she's nothing special." Carol said rudely as she inserted a Bakugan into her launcher. "She'll be sent to the Doom Dimension soon enough."

This statement cause Chrysopeon to narrow her eyes at Carol. "Someone needs to teach you some manners young lady." The Lamia Bakugan said as she slammed her tail against the ground.

"I'd like to see you try! Bakugan Brawl!" Carol then shot her Bakugan towards Chrysopeon. "Bakugan Stand!" The Bakugan then opened up and appearing right in front of Chrysopeon was a Haos Saurus.

Lori then quickly checked her Baku-pod. "_Haos Saurus stand at 3-4-0 G's. Ventus Chrysopeon stands at 3-7-0 G's." _The Baku-pod explained.

"Perfect! This is literally in the bag!" Lori said confidently as she held her hand out. "**Gate Card open: Quartet battle!**" The gate card then glowed as Lori and Carol each had a Bakugan float up on its own and shot themselves at the gate card. "Look out Carol because this battle is getting real!"

Both of their Bakugan then stood on the gate card with Carol's Haos Falconeer joining alongside Saurus and Lori's Ventus Siege standing alongside Chrysopeon. Checking her Baku-pod Carol saw that Siege and Chrysopeon's combines power levels added to make 710 G's and with her Falconeer at 310 G's that and her Saurus added together had 650 G's of power.

"Sorry Carol but this is over!" Lori said as she held up an ability card. "Now to just throw down Blowing Halberd and this is over!"

"Is that what you think huh?" Carol said as she slowly rose up her own ability card with a devious smirk coming to her face. "**Ability Activate!**"

"What's she going?!" Lori gasped out.

"**Haos Trick Light!**" Carol then threw the ability card right at the gate card with the card piercing right into the gate card. Suddenly the command card under the four Bakugan was replaced with an element gate card.

"What?! What happened?!" Lori yelled as she checked her Baku-pod for any sort of power changes.

"It's the Trick Light ability." Carol begun explaining as a wicked smirk came to her face. "It allows me to change any gate card on the field to a Haos Attribute card even if the gate cards already been played."

"Oh no…" Lori's quickly had a sense of dread come over her as she looked at her Baku-pod.

"_Haos Bakugan power increase by 1-5-0 G's each." _The Baku-pod showed the combined powers of Haos Saurus and Falconeer increasing to 950 G's.

"CHRYSOPEON!" Lori yelled in horror as the Haos Bakugan charged at Chrysopeon and Siege.

However, instead of panicking, a smirk came across Chrysopeon's face. "Well, I guess drastic times calls for drastic measures…" The Ventus Bakugan said causing Lori to become briefly confused.

"What…" Lori quietly muttered.

"Watch and learn Lori!" Lori then watched as Chrysopeon suddenly flew high above the gate card and…

"_La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! La-la! La-la-la-la-la-la! La-laaaaaaa!_" Suddenly Chrysopeon began singing with a beautiful melody with the sound waves being visible and causing Saurus and Falconeer to cease their charge.

"Chrysopeon?!" Lori gasped out in response. However, she had to admit that the Ventus Bakugan's singing was second to none.

"What are you doing?!" Carol yelled impatiently at her Bakugan. "Get them!" Her Bakugan did not respond!

Suddenly, as she continued to sing, Chrysopeon began to glow as her appearance changed. "_La-la!_ _La-la! La-la-la-la-la-la! Laaaaaa-la-la-la-laaaaaa!" _Suddenly her hair changed from purple to yellow and was fixing itself into pigtails as her skin started to change from light green to white.

Chrysopeon then started spinning around in the hair as more of her body changed colors with her bottom halfs scales changing to very light yellow on the bottom half and pure white on the top. "_La-la! La-la! La-la-la-la-la-la!" _She then clapped her hands causing her nails, the scale-tank top on her body and even her eyes changing to a light blue color.

"_La-La! La-la-laaaaaaaaaaaaa!"_ Chrysopeon then finished her song by twirling around a few times and striking a pose that showed off her entire body.

"Behold…" Chrysopeon said as she winked an eye. "**Haos Chrysopeon!**_"_

"H-H-H-H-Haos?!" Carol started stuttering as a feeling of panic came over her.

"You changed your attribute!?" Lori yelled as she checked her Baku-pod and saw that Chrysopeon was indeed labeled as a Haos Bakugan instead of Ventus now. "But…that's impossible!"

"Hehehe, dearie the only thing impossible is impossibility!" Chrysopeon told the eldest Loud sibling right as the effects of the gate card started to effect Chrysopeon due to her now being a Haos Bakugan. "Now this is what we're talking about!"

"_Chrysopeon power increase by 1-5-0 G's." _Lori's Baku-pod showed Chrysopeon increasing due to the gate cards effects and bring her and Siege's combined power to 860.

"Ha!" Carol laughed as there was still a 90 G power gap between her Bakugan and Lori's. "That's not gonna save you!"

Lori felt dread hit her again…until something came to her. "Wait a minute…" Lori then started looking between the now Haos Chrysopeon and Ventus Siege. "Ventus and Haos…THAT'S IT!"

"Thatta girl." Chrysopeon said to Lori with a sweet smile.

"**Ability Activate!**" Lori said as she brought out an ability card. "**Linking up Ventus and Haos!**" Once Lori activated the diagonal link between the two attributes, both Chrysopeon and Siege glowed as they powered up.

"_Siege and Chrysopeon power increase by 1-0-0 G's each." _The Baku-pod said as both Chrysopeon and Siege powers combined to make 1060 G's.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Carol yelled as now it was Chrysopeon and Siege's turn to charge at Carol's Bakugan.

"Ready for this Siege?" Chrysopeon asked as she flew next to said Bakugan with her tail still making slithering motions.

"Of course!" Siege replied with a voice fit for a knight.

"ATTACK!" Lori yelled with a smirk on her face. Chrysopeon did just that was Siege struck Saurus with its halberd and Chrysopeon slammed her tail right on top of Falconeer.

Carol feel to her knees as all the maliciousness seemed to fade away from in this moment as both her Bakugan turned back to balls and fell to the ground in front of her. "I…lost…"

"Yeah…and I won." Lori said with a modest smile as both Chrysopeon and Siege glowed green, causing Chrysopeon to turn back to Ventus, and return to Lori's hand and-

Everyone around Lori and Carol gasped as they saw Carol in a defeated position and Lori standing up with Chrysopeon returning to her shoulder.

"Woah did Lori win?"

"She actually beat Carol!"

"Guess the streak had to be broken sooner her later huh?"

"Guess she was all talk today."

At hearing these words, Carol sunk lower into herself as she tried to hide herself from the crowd. "Hey! Leave her alone!" Carol's eyes widened at the words and especially the voice that said them. Looking up from her self made, and saw Lori…her rival…the girl who's Bakugan she just tried to send to the Doom Dimension…sticking up for her.

Carol didn't say anything as Lori walked over to her and kneeled down and put a hand to her shoulder and said one thing. "Hey…can we talk?"

* * *

"What?! You think _I _was better than _you_?" Currently Carol and Lori were by themselves in the hallway of the school and like Lori said, they simply talked. And Lori had just gotten down explaining her side of things to Carol. Saying how she thought Carol was better then her at everything. To Lori's shock, Carol was actually surprised by this statement. ""I kinda thought it was the other way around. Honestly…I kinda looked up to you."

"Told you~" Chrysopeon told Lori in a bit of a teasing voice.

Lori smiled and rolled her eyes in response and said. "Really?"

"Well…yeah!" Carol admitted with a sheepish smile as she rubbed her arm. ""I mean, you made the varsity golf team when we were freshmen. No one else did that. And you have ten siblings who all look up to you. And don't get me started on your hair; I will never have volume like that." Carol then picks up her own hair. "This takes like, six cans of dry shampoo, and it's still flat."

"So...what about Masquerade?" Lori asked as she wanted to get to how she ended up working under that guy.

Carol put on an ashamed look as she turned away from Lori. "Well…he just got into my head I guess…" Carol answered the best she good. "Told me how winning was everything, and how he would give me everything you had that I wish I would have if I did what he says." Carol then looked down as she slowly hugged herself. "Lori…I'm so, so, so, sorry for everything."

Carol was silent for a moment before her eyes widened as she felt arms wrap around her and saw that Lori was hugging her. "Its alright. He just got into your head. I couldn't hold that against you." Lori told her in a reassuring tone.

A smile soon came to Carol's face as she hugged Lori back. "Thank you…" She said quietly as she held on tightly to Lori.

For the next two minutes, the two remained in their hug before pulling away and Lori speaking up. "Look, from now on, how about we forget about all this competing and just…be friends."

"I…I would love that." Carol told Lori with a sweet smile on her face.

"So why don't you come to my house after school and meet all my siblings!" Lori quickly offered as her and Carol's friendship was made official. "I'm sure they'd all love to meet you! Especially Lincoln, he always loves to meet awesome Bakugan players like yourself."

Carol giggled in response as pink came to her cheeks. "Yeah, I'd really like that." Carol said before giving Lori another hug. "Well, I should go get something to eat before lunch ends. See ya after school Lori!"

"See ya Carol." Lori said back as Carol walked back into the lunchroom.

"I'm proud of you dearie." Chrysopeon told Lori as she looked up at the 17-year-old. "Turning a rival into a friend."

"All thanks to you." Lori said as she took Chrysopeon into her hands and smiled at the Ventus Bakugan. "Hey, can I ask you something."

"Of course." Chrysopeon quickly responded with.

"Would you…be my partner?" Lori asked causing Chrysopeon to hop in response. "Even though we literally just met, you've helped me so much and the way you battle was just beautiful. I'm think we could make a great team not just for brawling, but just for helping each other and being there. So? What do you say?"

After a moment of silence, Chrysopeon giggled and hopped up and down again. "I thought you'd never ask sweetie!" Chrysopeon said enthusiastically. "I'd be more then happy to lend my aid to you!"

"Oh thank you so much!" Lori said in the happiest tone she could muster as she nuzzled Chrysopeon against her cheek. "I promise, you won't regret this."

"Hehe, I know I won't dearie." Chrysopeon giggled as her face went red. "I know."

And thus, a new friendship and partnership was born that day between human and human, and human and Bakugan.

* * *

**_Now how's THAT for a chapter?_**

_**Looks like you all guess it, this chapter had the introduction to Lori's Bakugan partner, Chrysopeon. Obviously she's a Lamia Bakugan, shout out to my best friend! but anyway, she's inspired by quite a few things. Her main inspiration is the Indonesian Flying Snake, hence the Ventus Element. But she's also inspired by the Chameleon Snake which can change its color to white, hence her ability to change from Ventus to Haos. And the way she changes attributes is inspired by Meloetta's Relic Song from the Pokemon Black and White anime.**_

_**And her personality is pretty much super motherly, kind, and just someone you can talk to about just about anything and not be afraid to be teased and made fun of. I have quite a few plans for her in the future so remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for...**_

_**"Bakugan Idol"**_


	10. Bakugan Idol

**_Alright! Another chapter with over 10,000 words! I'm on a roll! I know a lot of you have been looking forward to this one and so am I. It introduces one of the best characters in the series and it couldn't come soon enough so I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

The sun was rising over Royal Woods Michigan bring the beginning to a brand-new day. And as this day began, in the more city-like area of town, on one of the highest building in the area laid a Bakugan of the Aquos Bakugan. As the rays of the sun hit the Bakugan, he opened up revealing himself to be a humanoid-chameleon-like Bakugan with a black head and red eyes.

The Bakugan shook himself awake as he took a look at the area around him. "What?! Wooooooow!" The Bakugan let out as he looked over Royal Woods coated in the light of the sunrise. "A penthouse with a high view! To bad the commutes a real killer."

As the Aquos Bakugan said this, a bird started to fly nearby and of jumping range to the Bakugan "Oh! Taxi!" The Bakugan called as he jumped onto the birds back. "Quick! To the flower bed below, and step on it!"

* * *

A little later into the day at Dan's house, Dan, Runo, Lincoln, and Lori were all hanging out in the Pyrus users room with Runo and Lori on Dan's computer talking to Alice and Julie with Dan and Lincoln on Dan's bed reading Manga and Comics respectively.

Its been a few days since the incident between Lori and Carol and since then all of the brawlers have been introduced to Lori's Bakugan partner Chrysopeon. Needless to say, the Ventus Bakugan quickly hit it off with the brawlers due to her naturally kind and friendly personality.

Drago and Tigrerra also have had proper introduction with Chrysopeon and quickly hit it off. Leonidas, being Leonidas, was of course still being the usual grump he is around just about everyone. Chrysopeon was perfectly ok with this surprisingly. She stated that all people and Bakugan had their quirks and it was best to just accept it and go along with it. Of course…this did lead to her having to diffuse potential fights and arguments between the Darkus Bakugan and the people and Bakugan he insults.

And speaking of diffusing arguments, Chrysopeon had begun assisting Lori and Lincoln with any tension that rise between their siblings. Just having a natural motherly instinct and tone helped a lot with this and prevented quite a few Loud siblings from going at each other's throats.

Going back to right now, Runo and Lori looked at Alice and Julie on Dan's computer and were discussing something that's been on their minds for quite awhile with Runo speaking up. "Yeah they certainly are taking their time." Runo said to the two girls on video chat. "But after six months of construction and two months of coffee breaks, we still don't know what it is. What in the world could take so long to build?" What Runo was referring to was a giant super structure being built on a nearby block. Apparently, some super rich guy completely bought out over half of the block and quickly caught to work tearing stuff down and started building one giant structure. "A government office."

"Is you ask me I would say a dance studio." Alice said as she put a hand to her chin.

"How about a fitness center!" Julie pitched with a raised finger. "Or a spa!"

"Eh, I think they're building something outta nothing." Dan said with no interest in the topic. After all this time, he just kinda forgot about it. Besides, it was some building built by a random rich guy. How would it affect him?

"Oh come on Dan, you gotta be at least a little curios about what it is." Lori said as she began to think of the possibilities of the super structure. "Maybe it's a hotel! One of those big fancy ones that has a pool, gym, spa, and a big buffet room!"

"Eh, I wouldn't count on that Lori." Lincoln said as he looked up from his comic. "Who would come to Royal Woods of all places for a hotel like that? Even locally the only people that could probably afford going to a place like that are the rich snobs at Huntington Manor."

"I don't get why humans would need that much space." Leonidas commented from on top of Lincoln's shoulder. "Seriously, you don't take up that much space. Just seems inconvenient."

"Well to rich people, bigger is literally better." Lori answered as she leaned on the wall next to Dan's desk. "It pretty much them showing they're better than everyone else."

"Well it shows!" Runo said as she started doing something on her Baku-pod. "If its something like a mall or an oversized copy shop that could have a disastrous effect on my parents restaurant. According to my market research calculations…"

"Ha! Market research? Don't make me laugh!" Dan said as he put down his manga and sat up from his bed. "You barely have customers let alone a market."

This statement quickly causes Runo's temper to flare and a giant tick mark to appear on her forehead and causing Alice and Julie to gasped as Runo quickly face downed Dan who flinched and tried to back away from the enraged girl. "WHY YOU! AAAAAAAAHHH!"

"Dan, just let this one go." Drago said as he and Tigrerra stood next to each other on Dan's desk.

"This is one battle you won't win." Tigrerra added in.

Chrysopeon quickly stepped in to defuse the situation and floated in between Dan and Runo's face. "Now, now you two. No fighting." Chrysopeon told the two in a calm yet firm tone before turning to Dan. "Dan, apologize to Runo right now."

Dan let out a sigh in response, seeing no other way outta this, and nodded. "Ok, I'm sorry Runo." Dan muttered out while looking away from the bluette. "It was just meant to be a joke."

"I'm not sure about a coffee shop for something that big." Lincoln jumped in, also trying to defuse the situation. "But a mall or shopping center is not a bad guess."

"Oooooo! A new mall!" Lori quickly perked up at the idea of a brand-new place to shop. "Imagine all the new clothing stories! I could literally go for some new tops!"

"Oh-vey." Leonidas grunted in annoyance.

"Hey guys! I just solved the sky scarper mystery!" Suddenly, coming into the chat, Marucho spoke up with his chat box coming up right above Julie's. Everyone quickly turned their eyes to the blond 11-year-old and anxiously awaited an answer. "Turns out…"

"_It's my brand-new house!"_

_THUD!_

After hearing the more then shocking news, everyone on all ends of that chat comedically fell to the floor in response as Marucho kept talking. "Yeah I know!" Marucho said in response to everyone's reaction. "I was floored where my parents told me where we would be moving to. I kept it a secret so I could tell you in person and see the looks on your faces!" Marucho then bowed as he gave even more news. "So we're throwing a party and you're all invited!"

Needless to say, everyone was pretty hyped up for visiting the rich kids house.

* * *

The next day in the woods near Royal Woods, the Aquos Bakugan could once again be seen resting inside of a bird next. Letting out a yawn, the Bakugan opened up and shifted around a bit. But in doing so, his arm hit one of the five eggs that were in the nest along with him and causing it to crack. "Oh no!"

Setting off a chain reaction, the other eggs started to crack as well before breaking completely and birthing five chicks! "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" The Bakugan said in panic as the chicks were freed from the egg and quickly started chirping at him. "Silence! Silence! Evil five headed monster!"

Just as soon as the Bakugan said this, the chicks started lifting him up. "Back off! I have weapons!" The Aquos Bakugan said as the chicks then started to push him out of the nest. "Hey! What are you doing?! Put down that stuck! Stop pushing me! Aaaaaah!" And like that, the Bakugan was pushed out of the nest and tree.

"Tuck and roll! Tuck and roll!" The Bakugan quickly closed back up into ball form as he fell. "Ow! Oof! Ah! Ow, that was a rock! Must! Resist! Sudden! Stop!" The Bakugan soon started bouncing down hill and soon started bouncing near the highway next to the words. "Oh no a trunk!" The Bakugan then proceeded to bounce right into a truck filled with flowers. "AH! I CAN'T SEE! I CAN'T-Oh it's a leaf."

* * *

Currently, Lincoln, Lori, Dan, and Runo were looking up in pure amazement as they were in front of the completely finished skyscraper that just so happened to be Marucho's house. They still couldn't believe that the structure that was being built here for half a year was the house of their friend. It honestly made them dizzy just trying to look at the top.

"Holy shamoly…" The four of them said in unison.

"I can't believe that's his house." Dan said as they all continued staring.

"That is not a _house_!" Lincoln quickly replied as he pointed to the super structure. "Where me and Lori live is a house, where you two live is a house. _This_! This can be called many things Dan, but this is not just a house!"

"I know right!" Runo agreed as she had a bit of an intimidated smile on her face. "When he said he was full of it, I didn't think he meant cash."

"I am literally jealous right now." Lori gushed as she looked over the entire building. "I mean just think of all the fancy parties, cloths, food, cloths, people, cloths, and the cloths."

"We get it, ya like cloths." Leonidas said in an annoyed tone from on top of Lincoln's head, seemingly looking out for something. "Honestly humans should just stop wearing cloths. It'd be a lot funnier."

While Runo and Lori went red with both embarrassment and irritation towards the Darkus Bakugan while Dan just scratched his head in confusion about where Leonidas was. "Hey Leonidas, why are you on Lincs head?" Dan ask as Leonidas turned to him.

"I'm being look out." The Darkus Bakugan answered. "The kid invited a friend and asked me to watch out for them."

"Oh…its not…Clyde is it?" Lori asked in both nervousness and annoyance. She was just about to attend a rich people party she was personally invited to and the last thing she wanted was for Clyde to be there ogling over her and getting his nose blood on her shoes.

"Uh, not exactly." Lincoln answered as he turned away from the rest of the group to avoid them seeing the faintest hint of pink on his cheeks. "It's a friend that I thought might enjoy coming here is all but its not Clyde."

Dan, Runo, and Lori looked at each other a moment before looking back at Lincoln with Runo asking. "Then who is-"

"Hello."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Everyone screamed as they all jumped up into the high in fright.

"I thought we left Lucy at home!" Lori yelled as she held her heart to try and slow down its rate.

"Its not Lucy." Turning to the source of the voice, everyone saw that it was still a goth, but not the one they were thinking. It turned out to be the goth that Lincoln had grown rather close to recently, Haiku. The goth girl did a quick bow to everyone as she said. "I'm here."

"Haiku!" Lincoln said rather enthusiastically as he walked over to the girl, with his heart rate no long speeding up due to a jump scare. "You made it!"

Haiku looked to Lincoln and soon found a tiny smile coming to her face. "Of course. I told you I would." The goth girl said before looking up at the sky scrapper. "Man, its hard to believe something this big is now in our neighborhood."

"I know right." Lincoln said as he scratched the back of his head. "Good thing I invited you and Marucho invited me so you wouldn't have to stand in that line to get in." What Lincoln was referring to was a giant and long line not to far behind them that was filled with people waiting to get it.

"Seriously, what kind of housewarming party has a guest list." Dan said as he looked down the long line of people. "Talk about high security. Especially since all its filled with a bunch of posers waiting to get in."

"Posers like that Dan?" Lori said with a smirk as she pointed at a specific woman in line. Dan's mom.

"Aw! No way! My mom!" Dan yelled as he saw his mother talking with someone in line. "What's she doing here? Oh this is so not good!"

"Just be glad our entire family isn't here." Lincoln said as he put a hand through his hair. "Knowing our track record, we'd get kicked out in thirty minutes. Tops."

"You all can be…quite chaotic." Haiku quietly pointed out with everyone else simply nodding in agreement.

Just then the group heard footsteps behind them, and all looked to see the man of the sky scrapper himself Marucho walking over to them. "Hey guys! Glad you could all make it!" The blond boy told them as they all looked down at the pretty short kid. Despite being 11-year-old like Lincoln and Haiku, he was only half their height.

"Wow…you are short." Leonidas commented as he jumped down onto Lincoln's shoulder and causing Marucho to lower his head.

"I…peaked early…" Marucho quietly admitted.

"Ignore him Marucho. Just Leonidas being Leonidas." Lincoln told the blond boy as his partner simply grunted. Lincoln then gestured his hand over to Haiku. "Anyway Marucho, this is Haiku. I invited her to join us in visiting your place. Hope you don't mind."

Marucho simply smiled and shook his head in response. "I don't mind at all. Its nice to meet you Haiku, my name is Marucho Marukura." Marucho introduced himself to the goth girl.

Haiku bowed in response as Marucho turned to the rest of the group. "And its nice to finally meet you all in person as well." Marucho said to everyone as he gestured to his body. "Do you like my new cloths?"

Everyone that knew Marucho raised a brow as they looked at his cloths…and saw they seemed to be the exact same cloths he usually wears. "Um…yeah!" Lori let out as she averted her eyes away awkwardly. "You literally look great Marucho."

Just then everyone saw two adults coming in from behind Marucho. One was a mane wearing a business suit with brown hair and a mustache with the one next to him being a woman with a dark red dress, a necklace, and light blond hair. "Ah Marucho, so these are your cyber friends." The man said as he seemed to look at everyone with approval. "I'm relieved. I mean, very pleased to meet you."

"We're his parents." The woman introduced herself and her husband as Marucho's mom and dad.

The Royal Woods group, now that they knew they were in front of Marucho's parents, quickly decided to be polite and introduce themselves. "Oh, hey. Sorry we took up so much time with your dial-up. Welcome to the hood, I'm Dan." The Pyrus brawler introduced himself.

"I'm Runo." Runo introduced herself after.

"My name is Lori Loud." Lori introduced herself before gesturing to her brother. "And this is my little brother Lincoln."

"And I'm Haiku." Haiku introduced herself last with another bow.

"Well, no need to worry." Marucho's mom said in a calm and gentle voice. "We now have the latest in fiber optics."

"Yes, we upgraded everything thanks to a sweet land deal." Marucho's dad started to explain to everyone. "In fact, Dan and Lincoln's neighborhood was so cheap I nearly bought out the entire block." Mr. Marukura finished with a hearty laugh.

This caused the Royal Woods group to sweat drop in response. "Uh, yeah, cheap. Hehe." Dan nervously laughed out.

"Hey dad, can I give them a tour of our mansion?" Marucho asked as he turned to his parents. "I'll do a preliminary security check."

"Sure. Knock yourself out." Mr. Marukura agreed kindly.

"Sweet! Follow me guys!" Marucho said to his friends. "We'll start with a retinal scan."

Everyone then started to follow he blond with Dan and Runo saying. "Ok." And simply not questioning it.

"It's Lisa all over again." Lincoln whispered to Lori at the idea of preforming a retinal scan. However, Lincoln looked to Lori and saw that his oldest sister was giving him a sly grin. "What?"

"So…" Lori said in a bit of a sing-song tone. "So, wanted Haiku to come along with us didn't you~"

Lincoln quickly frowned at his sister. He knew where this was going and we just wasn't gonna have it. "Ok, I'm just gonna nip this in the butt." Lincoln said as he faced Lori. "No. We are not a couple! We are just friends. I just thought inviting her here would be nice. Please don't meddle or try to hook us up!"

"Alright, whatever you say lady killer." Lori said with a smirk and a roll of her eyes as she nudged Lincoln with her elbow earning an irritated growl from her brother.

Soon enough, the group made there way to the entrance of Marucho's house with the first room being filled with people that were invited to come with the room itself being giant in size and have marble floors and flowers along the walls and even a big stained glass window on the upper level. "Now this is the entrance where the closest is." Marucho told them as the Royal Woods group gasped in amazement about the place.

"You sure got a lot of people hiding in your closet." Dan joked as they walked inside.

"Yeah, your closet is probably bigger than my house." Haiku said as her monotone expression was broken only a little bit as she looked around with widened eyes.

"Take about major bling!" Runo gushes as she looked down at the red carpet they were now walking on as well as the flowers that seemed to just glow under the light of what was probably a diamond chandelier above them.

"I know!" Marucho agreed as they watched past a batch of flowers. "But my parents insist on basic cable. What's up with that?"

"Maybe your dads a fan of Storage Wars." Lincoln said in a joking tone that got everyone minus Haiku to laugh a little bit.

But unaware to any of them, the Aquos Bakugan was resting on one of the pedals of the many flowers in the bed and once they were gone, he quickly opened up. "Ha!" The Bakugan laughed. "Now time for operations magnum stealth!"

However, once he said this he suddenly started slipping off the petal and quickly closed back up into a ball as he fell to the floor and bounced only for a mans foot to come in a kick him causing the Aquos Bakugan to let out an 'ouch' as he was sent flying across the room. But as he landed another foot came in and kicked him and this process only repeated as people unknowingly kept kicking the Bakugan across the room. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Ouch my shin!" The Bakugan said in pain as he was kicked around.

* * *

Marucho was now seen leading the Royal Woods group down a rather large hallway as Dan suddenly asked. "So explain to me how your father found our so called cheap neighborhood?" The Pyrus user asked as that has been on his mind since Mr. Marukura mentioned it.

"Well no offense but I wanted to make sure you were all legit." Marucho informed them as they all looked at the blond. "See my dad he's a developer, he tracked ya down, saw cheap land, evicted a school, tore a few homes down, and that's how he makes his millions."

"Our school?" Lincoln asked in a slightly surprised tone.

"No way." Runo said in amazement. "Unbelievable."

"Talking about literally living the life." Lori said in a mix between jealous and impressed tone.

Marucho laughed a bit in response and turned his head back to everyone. "He evicts so many schools you could almost say it was his primary business."

"Aw man, wish me and Linc had the money to bulldoze our school." Dan said with Lincoln and even Haiku nodding I agreement.

"Totally." Runo and Lori said in unison.

As they were walking down the hallway, they came across a day which Dan quickly walked up to and grabbed the handle. "So, this spot is your fav?" Dan asked as he opened up the door and looked in amazement at a room that seemed to have lights going around the ceiling like a circle and walls and floor made from fine stone and marble that was easily over three times bigger than his whole house. "Woah! This place is totally of the chain!"

"Yes, I'm sure this space is bigger then your house Dan." Marucho said casually as he, Runo, Lincoln, and Lori walked past Dan while taking a brief glimpse at the room Dan opened with Haiku actually stopping to take a look at it. "But my bedroom is down the hall. That's the bathroom."

Dan gasped as he looked to the middle of the room and saw a toilet that certainly seemed fancier than any porcelain throne he's ever seen. "Even the toilet…is tricked out…" Dan let out as he starred at the tricked-out toilet.

Haiku even took a moment to stare at the john a muttered under her breathe, "What kind of toilet needs that many buttons?" The goth wondered as she just thought all a toilet needed to work right was a simple knob to turn and flush.

A little later, the group was still walking in the hallway and seemed to enter an area of the hallway where the walls were made of glass. However, looking closely, everyone but Marucho gasped as what they saw past the glass was an aquarium so good it looked like a piece of the ocean itself was inside. To prove this even more they watched a freaking humpback whale swim by in the tank. "Yeah, my mom likes to collect things like figurines and endangered species." Marucho told them in a rather causal tone.

"How'd you literally get a whale in here?!" Lori yelled as everyone's eyes were still glued onto the whale. It didn't help that they saw some dolphins swim by as well.

And Marucho only showed them even more wonders of his house as next up was an area that was pretty much a zoo with Giraffe's, Panda Bears, Zebra's, and much more.

Next up was an area that Haiku really liked. It was a room filled with famous art and paintings including The Thinker and the Vase with Twelve Sunflowers.

Finally, they reached their destination. Marucho's room. The main part of the room fit in the theme of the rest of the rooms they visited on being bigger than all of everyone else's house. The room had one desk in the very center of it and two doors that led to different parts of the room with the main part of the room they were in having on single desk in the middle of it with a big green chair and what looked like a very advanced key board. And right above the desk was a giant sparkling chandelier that gave light to the whole room.

"Wooooooah…" The Royal Woods group gasped in amazement as they check out the room that was thousands of times bigger than all of their rooms…combined.

"Yes it is big." Marucho said as they all walked in. "But in the middle of the night it's a bit of a trek just to get water."

"Woah! Sweet!" Dan said as he looked up at the chandelier.

Runo looked forward and saw on the back wall of the room was an enormous flat screen. "Woah, your TV looks like a jumbotron from here." Runo said as everyone put their eyes on the giant black screen.

"That's because it is." Marucho said causally causing everyone's jaw to drop at the fact that Marucho's television was _actually _a jumbotron like what they have at New York. Marucho then sat down at the desk and started typing on the keyboard. "Check this out."

Everyone looked to the jumbotron and just then Julie appeared on the entire thing in a giant chat box. "Hey guys! That's a cool trick, all of you fitting on one tiny screen like that and not the multi-screen. Technology is amazing."

"Uh, maybe." Dan said nervously as he scratched his cheek. "Because we're all kinda at Marucho's house right now."

This caused Julie to quickly get a bit irritated at the fact that they were all there without her with the white-haired girl looking at Runo. "And how come?!" She lightly yelled. "Or did someone conveniently forget to invite me?! Wasn't picking up the phone and calling me your job Runo!"

"Oh, sorry about that." Runo apologized as she put her hands to her cheeks. "I like totally forget."

"Yeah she's having trouble connecting the dots these days." Dan joked about it and-

_SMACK!_

"You literally deserve that." Lori said with a blank face with Lincoln and Haiku nodding in agreement as they watched Runo smack Dan.

"Ow!" Dan yelled in pain as he held his cheek which now had a red handprint. "What was that for?! Calling you a scatterbrain!"

"No." Runo said sarcastically as she turned away from Dan with her arms crossed. "I don't remember."

"Yeah whatever," Dan huffed before smiling again and turning to Marucho. "Hey do you think you can get Alice on this thing?"

"Yeah, just a sec." Marucho said as he started typing again.

When Dan said this, Runo turned her eyes to peak at Dan through the corner of her eye as a small tick mark of…jealously? Came to her forehead. And as this happened, Haiku just had to say, "A bit eager to get Alice on the line huh?" With her usual monotoned face and tone.

"W-W-What?!" Dan yelled as both of his cheeks were red now but for a different reason. "What do you mean by that?!"

"Exactly as I said." Haiku simply said as she looked back up at the jumbotron.

"Ooooo! Got a crush don't ya Dan?" Lori said in the same teasing voice she used on Lincoln early.

"What no way!" Dan yelled back as he turned away from Lori. "I'm a Brawler! Not some cheesy romance guy!"

"You say that now." Lori said with a smirk as she nudged Dan with her elbow. "But give it time and-

"HE SAYS HE DOESN'T LIKE HER ALRIGHT!" Everyone froze as they slowly turned to the person who yelled. Runo. Runo quickly realized what she said and an embarrassed blush came to her voice as she quickly turned around and started casually whistling.

"Anyway…" Julie slowly said due to the awkward atmosphere in the air. "If Dan says he doesn't like Alice that way, then he doesn't like Alice that way."

Dan let out a pleased sigh as he gave Julie a thankful look. "Thank you Julie." The Pyrus Brawler said in relief.

"Besides…" Julie begun again as she suddenly gained the face of a fangirl. "Dan and I are meant for each other!"

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Dan yelled in irritation as he slammed his head down on the desk. "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?"

Lincoln quickly started patting his friend on the pack to comfort him. "Welcome to my life Dan." Lincoln said as he would need a team of accountants to find out how many times his sisters have meddled in his love life before. It was honestly nice to see it happen to someone else.

"Huh, that's odd." Marucho said as he got a decline on the call from Alice. "Alice doesn't seem to be picking up. It timed out the call."

"Weird, she almost always answers." Dan said as he lifted his head from the desk.

"Oh yeah, to bad so sad." Runo said with a shrug causing Dan to send her an annoyed glare.

"Eh, maybe she's making lunch or something." Lincoln said with a shrug as he didn't see Alice not picking up as a big deal. She was probably just busy with something as the moment, no need to get worked up about it.

* * *

"Ooooooh…I should have stopped at 12 or 16…" Currently Dan's mom, Miyoko Kuso, was walking through the hallways of the skyscraper holding her stomach. She may have gone a little overboard on the buffet. "Oh great…where's the bathroom?"

She then opened the next door she came across, praying that she had finally found a bathroom. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Miyoko Kuso asked as she stepped in and found that it was a room filled with make-up, beauty products, and most abundantly, jewelry.

"Wow! Are these real?" Miyoko asked herself as she approached the many gems on display.

"What the what?" Emerging from her purse, was none other then the Aquos Bakugan. After all the kicking and bouncing he's been through, he somehow ended up landing into Miyoko's purse.

As Miyoko looked over the jewelry, she found one that caught her eye more so then the others and couldn't help but try it on. "Gorgeous!" She said as she looked at herself in the mirror in front of her.

"Oh that looks delicious on you!" Turning around at the source of the voice, Dan's mom saw Marucho's mom at the doorway smiling at her. "That's our chewy jewelry line."

"O-O-Oh, uh, y-y-your chewy jewelry line?" Miyoko stuttered at both being caught trying on the item in front of the owner and the fact that she was actually wearing edible jewelry. She then quickly tried to take it off. "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be helping myself after I just ate lunch!"

"Wait!" Mrs. Marukura stopped her from taking it off. "Go ahead and keep it. Its all low fat. In fact, help yourself to more."

"Low fat…" Miyoko said in amazement as she shook her head to get her focus back. "No way! Can I get a security box to go?" Mrs. Marukura simply giggled and nodded.

Meanwhile, with the two ladies completely oblivious to it, the Aquos Bakugan quickly started walking away while dragging along three pieces of chewy jewelry. "Y-Yeah, me and my…Bakugan pals were just leaving!" The Aquos Bakugan said as he tried to keep playing it cool. "Come on guys!"

* * *

"_Hi! And welcome back!" _Currently back in Marucho's room, the group were all watching what appeared to be a news report on the jumbotron. "_Today I have here with me Jenny and Jewls Super Sync Sound Extravaganza!"_

The camera then moved away from the women with the cheers being heard in the back round as two teenage girls came into view. Once of them had long purple hair and blue eyes and wore polka-dot overalls that exposed her shoulders and a small part of her stomach as well as a long yellow skirt that showed off her legs and her blue shorts underneath. She had a yellow and blue necklace, blue boots, blue arm coverings, blue socks, and blue jewel earrings.

The girl next to her had green hair and brown eyes. She wore a black necklace and yellow earrings as well as a white and pink robe with a blue belt and pink boots.

These were the pop stars Jenny and Jewls respectivally. "Oh cool! Its Jenny and Jewls!" Dan said despite the fact that the author just pointed that out…smart ass.

"_Hey y'all!_" Jenny said as she and Jewls stood shoulder to shoulder next to each other. "_We're here to hop with our super pop cause we don't stop!"_

"_Or miss a beat because we are hot!" _Jewls added right after.

The two of them then clapped each other's hand together as they spot around before holding both of each other's hands and striking oppose. "_We're Jenny and Jewls! Super Sync Sound!" _The two girls said in unison.

"That Jenny is so cute…" Dan said as he pictured Jenny in his head with a lovestruck smile on his face. The clear signs of a fanboy. "She even makes listening to them bearable."

"Aw Jewls…" Marucho blissfully sighed out. "No voice is quite as beautiful as yours."

Both Dan and Marucho hummed as they thought about their respective girl until they realized what the other said and looked at each other with a surprised look. "Are you completely whacked out?" Dan asked Marucho as the blond narrowed his eyes at Dan. "The group is totally trash without Jenny!"

"You're crazy!" Marucho yelled back at Dan. "She doesn't even do her own singing! She lips syncs to a soundtrack that plays along!"

Both boys glared hard at each other while Lori, Runo, Lincoln, and Haiku simply gave them blank stares. "Talk about a cat fight." Lori muttered under her breathe.

"I don't get what the big deal about Jenny and Jewls is." Lincoln said as he crossed his arms and looked up at the two girls on the jumbotron. "They're overrated if you ask me."

"Agreed." Leonidas said from on top of Lincolns shoulders. "I don't get how humans can consider that _noise _entertainment."

"WHAT?!" Dan and Marucho yelled as they looked at the Darkus Brawler and Bakugan.

"How can you say that man!" Dan yelled as he and Marucho got into Lincoln's face.

"Have you even heard them before?!" Marucho yelled at the white head.

"Yes, I have." Lincoln said simply as he pushed Dan and Marucho away from him. "And I still stand by my statement."

"Honestly nails on chalk board sounds better than those two." Leonidas added in.

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL!" Dan and Marucho yelled in unison.

"You done with your lovers quarrel yet?" Runo said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Honestly those two sicken me." Haiku stated as she averted her eyes away from the girls on the jumbotron. "Their cheesy songs are painful to listen to."

"I know right." Lori agreed with the goth. "Now Boys will be Boys, that's a real bad."

Dan and Marucho made some gagging noises in response with Runo nodding in agreement with Lori. With Lincoln and Haiku, "Eh, I'm more of a Smooch fan." Both said in unison before realizing what the other said and looked at each other.

"You're a smooch fan?" Lincoln asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, kinda." Haiku admitted as she started twirling a piece of hair with her finger. "I've been a fan for about two years now."

"Oh, is that so?" Lori said with a sly smirk as she put an arm around each 11-year-old and pulled them closer to each other causing them both to blush. "Maybe you two can go to their next concert together."

"Uuuuuuuh…" Haiku let out awkwardly as Lincoln glared at his sister who was clearly trying to meddle.

"_Now tell us, what inspired you two the most?"_

"_Bakugan!" _Suddenly everyone had their eyes on the jumbotron again, the awkward situation between Lincoln and Haiku disappearing, as they had heard the girls answer the reporter's question with the thing they were all passionate about.

"_Bakugan?"_ The reporter asked in a confused tone.

"_Straight up."_ Jewls confirmed as they camera came to her. "_It's the game anybody who is anybody is playing."_

"_Yuh-huh!_" Jenny said with a wink. "_Bakugan is the coolest! Why its all over the news."_

"_Y-Yeah…_" The reporter stuttered with a sweat drop. "_I knew that._"

"Woah! They play Bakugan?" Dan asked with an impressed tone. "They must be like the total best!"

"Yeah." Marucho agreed. "The best of the girl players."

"What…" Both boys looked behind them and flinched and gained terrified looks as they saw Runo, Lori, and even Haiku giving them rather angry looks and having their anger expressed through aura's of their respective attribute.

"YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THEM BATTLE AND YOU'RE CALLING THEM THE BEST?!" Runo yelled as her yellow aura raised up her hair.

"DO EITHER OF YOU LITERALLY HAVE ANY BRAINS!" Lori yelled loudly with her green aura pushing the boys back a little.

"Perhaps you'd care to see exactly how we battle!" Haiku, while not as loud as the others, sent a chilling look as a purple aura covered her.

"Ok, let's all just calm down." Lincoln said as he got in between the two groups. "How about we head out of here and get something to eat." That seemed to calm the girls down a bit, but they still sent glares to the guys.

"Oh, of course." Marucho said as he shut off the jumbotron, wanting to get out of this situation quickly. "Just follow me, we have plenty of dishes and cuisines from all across the world."

"Sounds good!" Dan quickly said as he and Marucho started walking out of the room with everyone else following soon after.

With the group now in the hallway with Marucho leading them, the blond boy heard something from below and looked down at the floor and saw that in front of them was the Aquos Bakugan still dragging around the chewy jewelry. "Must keep moving. Must keep moving." The Bakugan said to himself as they rest of the group stopped as they noticed the Aquos Bakugan as well. "Must stay focused. Can't stop moving. Must move. Must move. Must…rest before exhaustion."

The Bakugan then let out an exhausted sigh as he stopped moving with the group of humans in front of him starring down at the Aquos Bakugan. "Huh, why do I get the strange sensation I'm being followed." The Bakugan then turned and saw the human group looking at him and quickly screamed. "Ah! Abort mission!" He then quickly turned around and closed back up into a ball.

"Maybe they don't see you." The Bakugan told himself as a nervous sweat drop appeared on him. "Yeah that's it! Just don't look. Remain the stealth position." However, this didn't do anything to calm the Bakugan's nerves. "Uuuum, maybe I should take a peak! O-O-Ok! Just act causally and no one will notice." The bakugan then turned around while still in ball form and started to causally whistle as he peaked at the human group with his red eyes.

"Is that Bakugan whistling?" Runo asked as they all took a closer look at the Bakugan.

"Yep." Haiku immediately answered back.

"Oh no! I've been spotted!" The Bakugan quickly panicked.

"Why is wearing all that jewelry?" Lori asked with a confused tone.

"I don't know." Marucho said with an equal amount of confusion. "But it looks like last years line."

"Fine." The Aquos Bakugan relented as he opened up and looked at the humans in front of him. "Take me to your leader."

"…I wanna smack him." Leonidas said in response as he was already feeling incredibly annoyed by this Bakugan.

"You wanna smack everybody." Lincoln told Leonidas with a blank tone.

"Um, our leader?" Dan said to the Aquos Bakugan.

"Yes. Your _leader." _The Bakugan repeated. "A-And I'm willing to negotiate! For I am _Aquos Preyas!"_

* * *

On the other side of town, a limousine could be seen being driven through the road containing none other then the pop duo of Jenny and Jewls along with their manager who was at the wheel. Both girls had bored expressions on their faces as they looked out the window. "Man I'm bored." Jenny complained. "I wanna play Bakugan."

"Yeah!" Jewls quickly agreed. "Let's ditch this and go play some Bakugan!"

Their manager put on an annoyed look as she looked at the girls through the rearview mirror of the limo. "Look, I don't wanna hear another word about Bakugan!" She told the pop duo in an annoyed tone. "Do until you two clowns are paid for it, zip it!"

After that, their manager stopped the limo had their destination, a concert area with a big stage, with a bunch of the girls' fans already waiting for them and cheering. Jenny and Jewls exited the vehicle and started waving to their fans with smiles as the manager works with the security guards to push the horde of fans back to let the girls through. And then-

"_Jenny and Jewls, I am Masquerade!"_

The two girls eyes widened at the echoy voice that called out for them as they started looking around for the so called Masquerade. "_Over here to the right. Yes, yes, NO! that's your left! Ugh…"_

"Your right or mine?" Jenny asked as she and Jewls continued looking around.

"I think yours." Jewls said slowly as they tried to find Masquerade.

"Oh right." They both then looked to Jenny's right and amongst the crowd, they managed to find Masquerade himself sticking out like a swore thumb thanks to his hair and mask.

"Would you ladies care for a little Bakugan action?" The masked brawler asked them, his lips mysteriously not moving as he spoke.

"A Bakugan battle?" Jenny asked. "But our manager won't let us."

"Oh she'll let us!" Jewls pointed out with a smile on her face as she remembered exactly what their manager told them. "As long as we get paid."

"Oh right!" Jenny said with renewed enthusiasm. "She never turns down money!"

Masquerade simply smirked in response and the next time Jenny and Jewls manager turned around, she could no longer find the pop duo.

* * *

Back at Marucho's house, the group was now back in Marucho's room with various carts full of food that the gang was happily eating. And on the desk was everyone's Bakugan partner with Preyas now being introduced to everyone. "Well look at what the cat dragged it?" Preyas said as he looked at Drago, Tigrerra, Leonidas, Chrysopeon, and Kabukito. "Dragging-On, Tiger-Puss, Leon-saber, Kabukiwi, and Zephyreon!"

"Dragging-On?" Drago said with annoyance in his voice.

"Never call me Tiger-Puss." Tigrerra said firmly.

"It's Kabuki_to_." Haiku's partner Kabukito told Preyas.

"Um, well, its certainly a _creative _nickname." Chrysopeon awkwardly giggled as she tried to remain polite.

Leonidas however, "Call me that again, and you'll be eating through a straw." The Darkus Bakugan threatened with a growl.

"AAAAAH!" Preyas yelled as he back away from Leonidas.

"These are the best blood sausages I've ever had." Haiku drooled as she ate true German blood sausages cooked to perfection.

"My mouth is literally filled with happiness." Lori gushed over the most delicious food she's ever eaten. Her dad was good, but he couldn't compete with this.

"Yeah, great grub Marucho." Runo said with some food still in her mouth. "But what's a Bakugan doing crashing your party?"

"O-Oh, well I was just…surveying the area." Preyas answered nervously. "A-A-And I t-thought I'd drop in! You don't mind do you Muchaho?"

"It's Marucho." The blond boy corrected while seated in his green office chair.

"You don't seem to talk like the other Bakugan." Lincoln commented as Preyas seemed to have much more of joking and even more human-like personality.

"Well I'm no stranger to town." Preyas explained to the humans. "I've been here bout six months now. So, I've been around the block. Heh, quite a few times. But I won't bore you with the details. Well actually there was this one time, really funny story about these creatures with these claws and they hung me up in a tree and then they-"

"Sorry sir for interrupting your fascinating story." Turning around, everyone saw Marucho's butler Kato standing in the doorway. "But you have further guest to attend to."

"What?" Marucho asked as he wasn't expecting any guest specifically for him other then his friends. "For me?"

Kato then stepped aside and bowed as everyone watched who came in…and gasped. It was none other than Jenny and Jewls! "Hey boys!" Jenny greeted the three boys in the room with the females simply narrowing their eyes at the pop duo. "We're here to say, we wanna brawl with just you today!"

"Do get ready, cause we're here to play!" Jewls followed up after.

The two girls then joined hands as they did their signature pose in front of everyone. "We're Jenny and Jewls! Super Sync Sound!" The pop duo said in unison.

"Jenny and Jewls!" Dan said as he quickly stepped away from the food that was around them. "No way!"

"Wooooow!" Marucho let out as he stood next to Dan's as he tried his best to keep from fanboying. "Real live girls are at my party!"

"Just ignore him." Lincoln told Lori, Runo, and Haiku who all gained tick marks in response to Marucho's words. They weren't jealous, but they were a bit offended.

Just then they watched as Jewls held up a Subterra Bakugan with Jenny pulling out an Aquos Bakugan. "Let's throw a Bakugan block party!" Jenny said enthusiastically. However, if one were paying close attention it seemed that Jenny's voice gained a quiet echo to it.

"So do you guys feel like Brawling?" Jewls asked with her eyes on Dan and Marucho. It seemed her voice also had a slight echo to it.

"Any place, anytime, I'm ready to roll!" Dan nodded with a big smile on his face as he looked at the pop duo. Dan then pulled out two of his Pyrus Bakugan with one in each hand and struck a pose of his own. "I'm warning ya now though, I am one of the best. My name is Dan and I take no prisoners!" Dan then shot Jenny a wick and followed up with, "At least not yet."

"So much for wondering about Alice." Lincoln muttered under his breathe with an eyeroll.

"Looks like this is it." Dan said as he turned to Marucho. "Ready to roll Marucho?"

"Yep!" Marucho said as he put on his game face.

* * *

A little later, Jenny and Jewls along with the Royal Woods group were standing across from each other on the roof of the skyscraper. The only one that wasn't there was Marucho himself. "What is taking Marucho so long." Dan complained as he starred Jenny and Jewls down while Lori, Lincoln, Runo, and Haiku stood a bit away from the soon to be battle arena.

"Wait! I'm coming!" The voice of Marucho was heard as everyone looked to the doors leading up to the area they were at and soon saw Marucho coming up to them with three things in his arms. "Sorry I took so long." The blond apologized as he walked up to Dan. "I had to grab these from my dad's factory."

Marucho then revealed one of the objects in his arms as he handed it to Dan and showed it to be a custom made Bakugan Shooter! The shooter for Dan was white and red in color and had a more thin and lean design when compared to Masquerade's shooters. "Woah! Are these shooters?" Dan as he took the Pyrus shooter into his hands. "Let's try this puppy out."

Dan then equipped the shooter and struck a few poses with it. "Guys! Check this out!" Dan boasted as the raised up his arm.

"That's so cool!" Lincoln said in an impressed tone as he looked at the shooter.

"Here." Marucho then handed Lincoln a shooter with a white a and purple color scheme. "I made one for you and me as well!" Marucho then showed off a white and blue shooter on his arm.

"What about us huh?" Lori said with a bit of an annoyed looked at being left out. A look she shared with Runo as the bluette nodded with the 17-year-old with Haiku simply watched Lincoln admire his shooter.

"Don't worry, they're a being made." Marucho told them with a smile on his face. "These are just the first three to come out." The blond 11-year-old then turned to Haiku and offered. "Hey Haiku, I can have a shooter made for you to if you want."

"Hmmmm…" Haiku hummed as she watched Lincoln pose with the shooter and causing a light shade of pink to come to her cheeks. "Sure I guess."

"Aright then!" Dan said as he turned to Marucho's. "Although we might not need our shooters considering the advantage. It just wouldn't be fair."

"Woohoo! Uh-uh-uh!" They all looked to see Jenny waggling her finger at them. "Not so fast boys. Hey Jewls!"

"Oh what luck, we brought ours to!" Jewls said as Jenny and Jewls rose up their right arms to show off shooters of their arm.

Masquerade shooters.

"No way…" Marucho gasped out as everyone look at the girls with widened eyes.

"So boys…" Jenny begun saying. "Care for a friendly game of cards?" Jenny then reached into her pocket and pulled out none other then…

"That's the Doom Card!" Dan yelled as now in both Jenny and Jewls hands was the Doom Card.

"So they're working with Masquerade!" Lori called out as she glared at the pop duo.

"Let me think," Jenny said in a sarcastic tone. "Yep! Come to think of it he did give me his card."

"Boo." Lincoln said as that was obviously a pun.

"I should have guess they were up to something phony!" Runo yelled at the two. "It matches perfectly with your sell out image!"

"I did sense an unpleasant aura from them." Haiku pointed out with narrowed eyes. "I just thought it was because of my natural dislike towards them."

"But how? Just how?" Dan asked the two girls in front of him. "How could you be so incredibly stupid? Don't you see you're just puppets to Masquerade?"

"Puppets? Don't think so." Jewls stated as she and Jenny pulled out field cards. "This is a mutual business transaction."

"Yeah, we're being paid to bust your moves." Jenny added in.

"Then get ready to dance!" Dan yelled back as he and Marucho pulled out their field cards.

"Yes!" Marucho said as he, Dan, Jenny, and Jewls all rose up their field cards and-

"_Hold on."_

Everyone stopped. Suddenly a brand new voice entered the area that sent a shiver down everyone's spin. "Hey…who was that?" Jenny asked as she looked around.

"No clue." Jewls said as she looked at Dan and Marucho. "Was that one of you?"

"Not me." Dan said as he turned to Marucho. "You?" Marucho shook his head in response. Dan then looked back at Lincoln, Lori, Runo, and Haiku. "Any of you?"

"Wasn't us." Lincoln said with the girls behind him shaking his head.

"Hold on Dan." Suddenly Drago came floating next to Dan's head as the Pyrus Bakugan looked at an area behind Jenny and Jewls. "Something doesn't feel right."

"What is it Drago?" Dan asked his partner.

But before Drago could say anything, everyone started hearing footsteps at the area Drago was looking at. With Jenny and Jewls turning around and everyone looking at a part of the roof that had a pile of wooden crates and saw a shadow slowly appearing on the ground, showing that someone was coming.

After a few seconds of anxiously waiting, a person stepped up from behind the wooden crates. Everyone was silent as this person had his side turned to everyone, but then they watched him face towards everyone and giving them a clear view of his appearance.

He had silver hair with red streaks tied into a spikey ponytail. Black cloths covered almost every part of his body with two white strips on each leg of his panrs. He had a chain necklace and a crimson belt wrapped around his waist with similar smaller versions of the belt wrapped around his shoes and three of them wrapped around his right arm. He wore black fingerless gloves with two white stripes at the wrist part and had a long black coat with a frayed tail that was crimson on the inside. Finally, on the left side of his face, he had a white mask with two red marks covering his left eye with his visible white eye being red. He also appeared to be 15-years-old.

The mysterious boy took a few moments to look at everyone present in the area before walking in between Jenny and Jewls and his eye locked on neither Dan nor Marucho, but Lincoln. "Hey, who do you think you are?" Jenny yelled at the silver and red-haired teen.

"Yeah, this is our battle boy!" Jewls yelled towards him.

He didn't react to either member of the pop duo as he kept his eyes locked on Lincoln, causing the white head to slowly grow tense. "Are you Lincoln Loud?" He finally spoke up again.

"Uh…yeah…" Lincoln slowly said as Lori and Haiku started to glare at the teen.

The 15-year-old smirked at the news and started speaking again. "Good. Masquerade told me about you." He said to Lincoln causing the Brawlers to narrow their eyes at the 15-year-old.

"So, another goon of Masquerade huh?" Lincoln asked as he took a step forward. The boys smirk faded as he reached behind him and brought out two items. In his left hand was a Darkus shooter and in his right hand was the Doom Card. "Hmph, should have kno-

_SMASH!_

Everyone watched rather stunned as the mysterious boy dropped the shooter to the ground and crushed it with his foot. He then held forward the Doom Card and proceeded to crush it in his fist and when he opened his hand back up, it showed the card was reduce to a useless purple powder that blew away in the wind.

"My name is _Marduk._" He introduced himself as everyone gave him a surprised look from destroying both the shooter and the Doom Card. "I may be working _with _Masquerade, but don't think for a second that I'm just some lowly goon like these two."

"Hey!" Both Jenny and Jewls yelled angrily at Marduk.

However, Marduk didn't pay them any mind and continued talking. "Honestly, I don't give a crap about anything that fool says. The Doom Cards only aid him and his Bakugan. If he wants them used, then he can stop being lazy and do the dirty work himself." Marduk said which only confused everyone more. "However, he did tell me about you. And I'll say I'm certainly interest in both you…and you're partner."

"Leonidas?" Lincoln asked as said Bakugan growled viciously at Maruk.

"So…how about a little demonstration for me?" Marduk asked with a smirk as he pulled out a field card. "If you're up for it."

"Hey! Are you blind or just stupid?" Jenny told Marduk in an annoyed and angry tone.

"Yeah! Get in line boy! We were here first." Jewls pointed out as she pointed to Dan and Marucho. "You can battle him all you want once we're done with those two."

"Actually, I may have a way to appease everyone." Marucho rose up his hand as he spoke to get everyone's attention. "How about a three vs three battle."

"A three vs three?" Dan and Jenny asked in unison asked in unison.

"Dan, Lincoln, and me vs you, Jewls, and Marduk." Marucho explained as Marduk looked at him.

"…Fine." Marduk agreed. "I can accept that." Marduk then looked at Jenny and Jewls and gave them a single eyed glare. "Just stay outta my way. I won't hesitate to take you out if you get in my way."

"What was that?!" Jewls yelled angrily at Marduk.

"Well, guess we're up." Lincoln said as he gestured to Leonidas. "Time to Brawl." Lincoln then started walking up to the platform all the battlers were on. However, a hand was then placed on his shoulder and he looked back to see Lori looking down at him.

"Go get him little brother." Lori told him causing Lincoln so smile.

"Lincoln, be careful." Haiku told him as Lincoln turned to her and saw her giving him a mix between her blank look and a genuinely concerned look. "Something about Marduk…it doesn't feel right."

Lincoln thought about Haiku's words as he looked at Marduk who was still standing in between Jenny and Jewls and was silently waiting. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out." Lincoln reassured the goth as he walked in between Dan and Marucho. "Everyone ready?"

"Ready!" All the ones participating in the battle said in unison as they held up their field cards.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" They all said in unison as Lincoln and Marduk's cards glowed purple, Marucho and Jenny's glowed blue, Jewls glowed brown, and Dan's glowed red as the Bakugan field opened around them.

"**Doom Card set!**" Jenny and Jewls yelled in unison as they both threw their doom cards to the ground causing two purple waves of energy to spread throughout the field.

"Well at least we won't have to worry about losing Bakugan to Marduk." Lincoln said as he and everyone else pulled out a gate card.

"**Gate Card set!**" all of them then threw their gate cards with Marucho's landing in front of Jenny, Lincoln's landing in front of Marduk, Dan's landing in front of Jewls, Jenny's landing in front of Marucho, Marduk's landing in front of Lincoln, and Jewl's landing in front of Dan.

"Now let's start brawling!" Jewls said as she aimed her launcher at her own gate card. "Bakugan Brawl!" The Bakugan was then shot out and landing dead center of the gate card. "Perfect bullseye!" Jewls boasted as she struck a pose causing Marucho to get flusterd.

The Bakugan then opened up and everyone witness as the Bakugan Jewls sent out was a Subterra Stinglash. Marucho then checked his Baku-pod to get the data on Stinglash. "_Stinglash current power level at 2-9-0 G's. No other data available."_

"Ok a power level of 290 G's. Lets give Preyas a spin." Marucho said as he held said Bakugan in his hand.

Preyas then opened up with a grunt. "Oh, is my nap over already?" The Aquos Bakugan asked as he looked up at Marucho.

"Well the opponents attribute is Subterra so I'll pick." Marucho was strategizing before being cut off.

"Woah there Muchacho!" Preyas cut in, getting Marucho's attention. "We don't need an ability card! I got some tricks of my own to play!"

"You mean you have a plan?" Marucho asked the Aquos Bakugan.

"Of course I have a plan!" Preyas said confidently. "I plan on winging it."

"Winging it?!" Marucho yelled with uncertainty in his voice. "Think that'll work?"

"Like a charm!" Preyas said still sounding confident. "Just sit back and watch the magic happen."

Preyas then closed back up in Marucho's hand as the Aquos Brawler narrowed his eyes at Jewls Stinglash. "Alright! Prepare yourselves for battle!" Marucho said as he inserted Preyas into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Marucho then shot out Preyus towards Jewls gate card. "Preyus Stand!"

Preyus then opened up as he landed on the gate card and a torrent of water sprouted as Preyas's true form was unleashed onto the battlefield and showing himself off as a humanoid-chameleon-like Bakugan. "Oh yeah! Aquos Preyas has arrived!" Preyas announced as he crossed his arms.

"Woah, this is straight up cool!" Dan cheered as he, Lincoln, and Marucho looked up at Preyas.

"Wow! Preyas!" Marucho cheered as well with a big smile on his face. "You sure look awesome!"

"Hahahahaha! Get ready kiddies!" Preyus said before standing on one leg and waving his hands around with his frills popping out. "Cause its show time!"

Everyone proceeded to sweat drop in response to Preyas's goofy pose. "Maybe…we spoke to soon." Lincoln slowly said as Jenny and Jewls gave an unamused look.

"Is this a Bakugan or a court jester." Marduk muttered with closed eyes.

"Ok, pick a card! Any card!" Preyas said as he struck various poses as he changed his voice to sound more like a performer on stage. "Don't show me I love a surprise! Just like that last guy who thought we could trick me…"

As Preyas babbled on, Leonidas turned to Lincoln. "Send me in." The Darkus Bakugan said.

"What? You wanna help Preyas?" Lincoln as he held his partner in an open hand.

"No, I wanna beat him up before Stinglash beats me to it." Leonidas stated causing Lincoln to give his partner a blank look.

"Ha, nice clown act. But you dropped the ball on my gate card?" Jewls said with a confident smirk as she held her hand out. "Attribute coming right up."

"Great! We have a volunteer!" Preyas said as he gave a peace sign to Jewls. Everyone then watched as Preyas suddenly jumped up high into the air as his body started glowing like a rainbow. "Now if you excuse me, I'll just change of _attribute!_"

And before everyone's eyes, they saw Preyus change colors from the various blues and purples he originally had, to a Subterra color sceme with orange and brown over his body. "Into something a little more comfortable!" Preyas announced as he landed back down on the ground and struck a pose. "Older boy wear prohibited! Some conditions apply!"

"What?!" Marucho yelled in surprise. "He changed his attribute to Subterra?!"

"No way!" Dan yelled in surprise as well.

"Its just like Chrysopeon!" Lincoln pointed out as he remembered Lori telling him that her partner can change to the Haos element.

"Now that feels better. Much better." Preyas said as he stared down the Stinglash.

"Attribute change?" Marduk commented with his brow slightly raised. "Certainly a unique ability."

"But how'd he do it!?" Jewls yelled as she quickly panicked due to what her gate card was going to do. "This clown is some sort of tricked out Chameleon."

Just then the gate card below Preyas and Stinglash opened on its own and revealed itself to be an attribute card just like Jewls said with the field turning into a desert. Jewls quickly checked her Baku-pod and saw that both her Stinglash and Preyus were increasing in power by 150 G's since Preyas was not in the Subterra element.

"No! How can his power level be increasing?" Jenny said as they could do nothing but watch as Preyas started running at Stinglash at high speeds.

Preyas then jumped up high and proceeded to drop kick the scorpion Bakugan right in the face causing it to glow and turn back to ball form. "No!" Jewls yelled in defeat as Stinglash landed at her feet.

"Thanks ladies." Preyus said with a sly voice to the two girls. "I couldn't have picked a better card myself. Now tata!" Preyus then glowed blue as he was changed back to his normal attribute as well as went back to ball form and went back to Marucho's hand.

Jewls picked up Stinglash off the ground before growling and glaring at Marduk. "You know you could have tried to help you know!" Jewls yelled as Marduk kept a poker face. "We're on the same side ya know!"

"Please, that battle had nothing to do with me." Marduk shot back at her with a narrowed eye. "How about you fight your battles like a man and I'll fight mine." The girls growled as he said this as Marduk looked at Lincoln Loud once again. "Besides, there's only one battle I'm interested in right now.

On the other side, Marucho caught Preyas in his hand and gave the Bakugan a big smile. "Thanks Preyas! You were great!" Marucho complimented.

"Great, pfft, I was awesome!" Preyas boasted as he opened back up in Marucho's hand.

"Alright! The show is over now time to get back to business!" Jenny said with a confident smirk as she looked Dan right in the eye.

"Is that so?" Dan said with his own smirked as he met Jenny's eyes. "Well bring it on then!"

This battle was only beginning.

* * *

**_Alright! I think I did pretty good on this one!_**

**_And yup! Marduk has come into play. I know I said he was a big maybe but I think I found something good for him. Now in the game he was just kind of a generic villain but for this fic I'm gonna be rewriting him quite a bit to make him more interesting and compelling so look forward to his development throughout the fic. So remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for..._**

**_"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"_**


	11. Girls just wanna have Fun

**_Sorry for the wait everyone, took a few days to take some R&R but now I'm here with a brand new chapter! So I won't keep you here any longer so I hope you enjoy._**

* * *

Just then the gate card below Preyas and Stinglash opened on its own and revealed itself to be an attribute card just like Jewls said with the field turning into a desert. Jewls quickly checked her Baku-pod and saw that both her Stinglash and Preyus were increasing in power by 150 G's since Preyas was not in the Subterra element.

"No! How can his power level be increasing?" Jenny said as they could do nothing but watch as Preyas started running at Stinglash at high speeds.

Preyas then jumped up high and proceeded to drop kick the scorpion Bakugan right in the face causing it to glow and turn back to ball form. "No!" Jewls yelled in defeat as Stinglash landed at her feet.

"Thanks ladies." Preyus said with a sly voice to the two girls. "I couldn't have picked a better card myself. Now tata!" Preyus then glowed blue as he was changed back to his normal attribute as well as went back to ball form and went back to Marucho's hand.

Jewls picked up Stinglash off the ground before growling and glaring at Marduk. "You know you could have tried to help you know!" Jewls yelled as Marduk kept a poker face. "We're on the same side ya know!"

"Please, that battle had nothing to do with me." Marduk shot back at her with a narrowed eye. "How about you fight your battles like a man and I'll fight mine." The girls growled as he said this as Marduk looked at Lincoln Loud once again. "Besides, there's only one battle I'm interested in right now.

On the other side, Marucho caught Preyas in his hand and gave the Bakugan a big smile. "Thanks Preyas! You were great!" Marucho complimented.

"Great, pfft, I was awesome!" Preyas boasted as he opened back up in Marucho's hand.

"Alright! The show is over now time to get back to business!" Jenny said with a confident smirk as she looked Dan right in the eye.

"Is that so?" Dan said with his own smirked as he met Jenny's eyes. "Well bring it on then!"

"Alright! Time to get busy!" Jenny said as she inserted an Aquos Bakugan into her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Jenny then shot the Bakugan towards her own gate card as she made a pose directed at Dan. "Ready to battle Danny?" This caused Dan to get flustered and for Lincoln to face palm as Jenny's Bakugan landed on her card. "Aquos Fear-Ripper stand!"

Dan quickly checked his Baku-pod when Fear Ripper was sent into battle and saw the Aquos Bakugan stand at 300 G's. "Alright, her Fear-Ripper's standing at 300 G's and I have a sneaky feeling she's hiding a card and is gonna crank it up."

"Are you gonna battle or what?!" Jenny yelled at Dan, growing impatient.

"Yeah, yeah, just chill." Dan yelled to the Pop Star as he inserted a Bakugan into his launcher. "Alright, Falconeer, lets-"

"Dan wait." Lincoln put an arm in front of Dan to stop him from shooting out his Bakugan. "Take a look."

"Look at what?" Dan asked with a confusion expression as he looked at the battlefield. "I don't see anything other than that Fear-Ripper."

"An _Aquos_ Fear-Ripper," Lincoln stated with a serious expression as he looked at Jewls. "And Jewls attribute is Subterra."

"Aquos and Subterra?" Dan questioned as he put a hand to his chin in thought. After a few moments Dan's eyes shot open as he realized what was up. "So that's what their planning!"

"Of course! I realize it now." Marucho said as he quickly caught onto what was going on. "They plan on linking up their attributes! By combing the power of Aquos and Subterra they can increase both of their Bakugan's power levels!"

"My gate card would have booster by Falconeer to 400 G's but they add a Bakugan that can surpass it by linking up I would have been creamed!" Dan said as if Jewls added a Subterra Bakugan with 310 G's or more and then linked up that Bakugan with Fear-Ripper and increase their power by 100 Falcooner would be a goner. "Good eye Lincoln."

"So now that we knew what they're up to, we can counter it!" Marucho said with a pumped-up fist.

"Alright, here's what we'll do." Lincoln said as he held up a gate card. "I'll use my Trade Off gate card and send out my Darkus Fear-Ripper which has a low power level. Then we can link up our Bakugan Dan and increase Falconeer's power level and if things get dicey for me, my Trade Off card will defeat any Bakugan with a power level of over 400 G's."

"Sick plan man! Then we can get two of their Bakugan if they try and fight your Fear-Ripper." Dan said with a smirk on his face as he aimed his launcher at his own gate card again. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then shot out the Bakugan causing it to land and stand on the card. "Bakugan Stand!" With a loud and powerful call of a bird, Pyrus Falconeer's true form was standing on top of Dan's card.

"Don't tell me that's your best move." Jenny said with a cocky smirk on her face.

"You haven't seen nothing yet!" Dan retorted with a confident smile on his face.

"Hey, its your funeral boy!" Jenny yelled back as Lincoln grabbed his Trade Off gate card.

"We'll see about that!" Lincoln yelled as he threw his gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Lincoln then threw his Trade Off Gate Card right next to Dan's Gate Card where his Falconeer was standing. Lincoln then inserted a Bakugan into his launcher and shot it out towards his second gate card. "Darkus Fear-Ripper stand!"

With a power level of 290 G's, Lincoln's Fear-Rippers slashed his claws together and roared as it stood on its gate card.

"Ha, this is almost too easy." Jewls said with a confident smirk as she checked her Baku-pod. "Its almost as if they're asking us to beat em."

"Tch, idiots." Marduk said harshly.

"What did you just call us!?" Jenny roared at him as she and Jewls glared hard at Marduk, who wasn't at all effected by their harsh stares.

"If you can't see what they're planning then you two really are a bunch of dumb bimbos." Marduk told them bluntly causing them both to flinch harshly and pale out. They then watched as Marduk took a Darkus Bakugan out of his pocket. "Let me handle this."

"Uh-oh." Marucho let out as it seems Marduk was gonna be getting into battle instead of Jewls like they planned.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Marduk then threw the Bakugan towards Dan's gate card where it landed and opened up. "Darkus Siege stand!" With a bright flash of light, Marduk's Darkus Siege twirled around its Saber-Blade weapon and stared down at Dan's Falconeer.

Dan's gritted his teeth and quickly checked his Baku-pod and saw that Marduk's Siege was at 350 G's. "Alright, my gate card gives my 100 extra points and we can always use the Pyrus and Darkus connection just in case. We still got this!" Dan said as a confident smirk came to his face when-

"**Ability Activate.**" Marduk said as he slowly rose his ability card into the air as a devilish smirk came to his face. "**Diablo's Fury!**"

Suddenly dark energy surrounded the arena and before any of them could question what was going on, Lincoln's Fear-Ripper was being dragged from its gate card to Dan's. "Hey! What's going on!" Lincoln yelled as his Fear-Ripper joined Dan's Falconeer against Siege.

"It must be the ability card." Marucho deduced as the dark tornado disappeared. "It must let him drag in other Darkus Bakugan from the field onto the gate card."

"Well jokes on him!" Preyas yelled while floating next to Marucho's head. "It's two against one. Its like he wants to get his butt kicked! And I say we make that delivery! Just remember, the blue copy is his, the pink copy is yours."

"Maybe Preyas is right. Look." Lincoln said as he showed his teammates his Baku-pod. "With our combined power levels, we add up to 590 G's! Plus, Dan's gate card will give his Falconeer another 100 while he's only at 350!"

"We got this in the bag!" Dan with a smirk and a thumbs up.

"**Gate Card open!**"

"What?!" Dan, Lincoln, and Marucho yelled as the gate card started to glow…under Marduk's command. Despite being Dan's gate card.

"**Character!**" When the gate card opened, it showed itself to be a Siege character card and not a Pyrus attribute card.

"But…how?!" Dan yelled in complete confusion. "I threw down an attribute card not a character card!"

"Thank the Diablos Fury ability." Marduk started explaining with a smirk. "It lets me drag all Darkus Bakugan onto the card yes. But it also allows me to switch any gate card I'm on with one of my own! Oh, and I almost forgot one thing. It halves the G power boost of any attribute linking cards when on this gate card now!"

"No way!" Lincoln yelled as he checked his Baku-pod and saw that Marduk's Siege was now at 700 G's due to the character card. "Then not even the Darkus and Pyrus link will save them then!"

Lincoln and Dan could only watch as Marduk's Siege slashed both Falconeer and Fear-Ripper with his weapon causing both of them to glow and revert back to ball form and land at their respective owners feet.

"Woah…" Despite the insults Jenny and Jewls couldn't help but be amazed and shocked as Marduk's performance as his Siege reverted back to a ball with Marduk catching it.

"I can't believe it…" Dan slowly said with a shocked tone. "He smoked both of us with one card."

"I knew this guy was trouble." Leonidas growled as he looked at Marduk.

"Still, better then losing them to the Doom Dimension." Lincoln said as he tried to put on a smile and look on the bright side. "But we can't let our guard down around this guy. He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve."

"Lincoln's right." Drago said as he floated in front of everyone. "We need to be warry from now on. Those two females can link up their Bakugan to boost their power, and that human known as Marduk…I have a bad feeling about him and I'm sure he's hiding more then he's letting on even now."

"I believe I have a plan." Marucho told his two friends as he turned to them. "Since Preyas can change attribute, he can be a source of powering up our Bakugan. If he changes to Subterra mode then he'll link up with my Aquos."

"And if he changes to Darkus, he and Lincoln both can link up with Pyrus, which is me." Dan said as he had an idea where Marucho was heading with this.

"Now you're getting it." Preyas said while moving his body in a nodding motion.

"And as for Marduk and his abilites, just leave that to me!" Marucho told them as he inserted a Bakugan into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Marucho then shot his Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Juggernoid stand!" With a blue glow, a giant turtle shell came onto the card with all of Juggernoid's appendages and head coming out soon after.

"**Ability Card Activate!**" Marucho yelled as he threw the card out at the field. "**Water Refrain!**" When the ability card hit the field, blue energy waves spread throughout in a similar manner to the Doom Card's purple energy waves. "Water Refrian is a special Aquos Ability that prevents the opponents from playing any ability cards! Thus blocking the girls from linking up their Bakugan and keeping Marduk from playing his tricks."

"Hmph, not to shabby kid." Marduk said with an unchanging expression and his hands in his pockets.

"Oh yeah?!" Jenny yelled with a frown on her face as she pulled out a gate card. "Well watch this! **Gate Card set!**" Jenny then threw her second gate card in front of her first one where Dan/Marduks gate card used to be.

The Aquos using girl then shot out a Bakugan towards the new gate card. "Bakugan Brawl! Garganoid stand!" The Brawlers then watched as Jenny's Aquos Garganoid flew high above its card.

"Daniel! Look!" Drago yelled after Garganoid came into battle. "There are two Aquos Bakugan pitted against each other."

"Then that means…" Dan slowly said as it quickly came to him.

"TSUNAMI!" Dan and Lincoln yelled in unison.

"That's the same move Ricky tried to use!" Lincoln said as he remembered him and Dan's battle against Masquerade's first goon Ricky. "He tried to use two of his Aquos Bakugan and then his Aquos Siege to make a Tsunami wave that would have washed away all our Bakugan to the Doom Dimension! I was able to use my Monarus to stop it…only I don't have my Monarus with me today."

"Then this could be bad." Drago said as he looked back on the battlefield. "They only need to play their Siege now. Water Refrain will only last so long."

"Alright here's the deal guys." Dan quickly started planning. "We need to take out their Bakugan and the quicker the better. Marduk is tough but our main priority is Jenny and Jewls since it looks like they're pulling out everything they got." Unaware to any of them, Marduk was giving Jenny an unnoticed side glare since she sent out her Bakugan.

"No Dan!" Marucho quickly said. "We must secure our position and make a stand against them!"

"Are you sure Marucho?" Lincoln asked with uncertainty in his voice. "That's a pretty big risk."

"Trust me." Marucho persuaded his friends. "I believe my calculations are correct."

Dan hummed about in thought for a moment before giving Marucho a smile and nod. "Yeah ok!" Dan said, now on board with the blond boy's plan. "I think I know what you're getting at so we better get started before we lose more Bakugan."

"I'll keep Marduk busy then." Lincoln told the two as he pointed a thumb at himself. "You two handle the girls."

"Sounds like a plan! **Gate Card set!**" Dan then threw his gate card to the left of gate card Jenny's Fear-Ripper was on. "Bakugan Brawl!" After loading his launcher up, Dan shot a Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Serpenoid stand!" Everyone watched as Dan's Serponoid let out a roaring hiss as it was unleashed into battle.

"**Gate Card set!**" Jewls then threw a gate card next to the card Garganoid was one before loading up her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Jewls then shot out her Bakugan towards her own card. "Saurus stand!" Standing mighty and tall, the Subterra Saurus roared as it pounded its chest.

"So, seeing as how its your plan its your move!" Dan told Marucho as he lowered his head to meet the blonds height.

"I believe its quite simple." Marucho begun explaining. "We have the water attribute Aquos on the field, and the fire attribute Pyrus. So if we just add the light element of Haos onto the battlefield it'll increase our line of defense! Fire! Water! Light! The triangle of the hexagonal magic circle!"

"The Triple Node!" Lincoln yelled with a smirk on his face. "I get it now!"

"Yeah! Talk about a big-time power boost!" Dan yelled with enthusiasm. "I'm so on board with this."

"We just need Preyas." Marucho said, looking to said Bakugan. "He's our Haos source."

"Me?! You're kidding!" Preyas quickly started to panic. "You want me to go out there and risk being sent to the Doom Dimension? No not me! No way!"

"Yes!" Lincoln, Dan, and Marucho said in unison causing Preyas to let out a scream of pure terror.

"So, are you all ready to go?" Marucho asked the Aquos Bakugan with a smile.

"No." Preyas said, turning to his back to Marucho.

"Do it or I'll rip out your throat." Leonidas threatened as he floated up to Preyas!

"SIR YES SIR!" Preyas panicked even more as he floated into Marucho's hand allowing the blond boy to load Preyas up in his launcher.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Marucho said as he launched Preyas towards Jewls Saurus. However, Preyas ended up opening up as he was launched causing him to spin around rapidly and scream as he landed on the gate card.

When Preyas stood, suddenly a stage appeared with curtains being parted to the side revealing Preyas turned around holding anb umbrella with cherry blossom's falling from the sky. The Aquos Bakugan then turned around and said in a high-pitched voice. "Mind if I play?"

"Be serious!" Marucho yelled in an annoyed tone.

"Do you mind!" Preyas yelled to Marucho as he discarded his umbrella. "This is my party!" Preyas then got into position as he jumped up high and started glowing like rainbow again. "Change of Attribute!" Preyas's color scheme then changed to purple, dark purple, and black over his body. The Darkus element…very much not Haos. "What do you think? To much?"

"Cut it out!" Marucho yelled once more as Preyas landed back on the card. "You idiot! You morphed into Darkus! We need Haos!"

"I can't do anything right can I?" Preyas said in a more nasally voice as he started to panic again.

"Hm, not the brightest Bakugan." Jewls commented with crossed arms.

"That's putting it lightly." Marduk added.

"Hey! I heard that!" Preyas yelled as he faced the opposing team.

"**Gate Card Open!**" Jewls commanded causing her gate card to glow and reveal itself as a Subterra element gate card. Saurus roared as it started to glow with his Attribute as Marucho's Baku-pod showed Saurus increasing from 320 G's to 390 G's.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" Preyas screeched as he dunked under a punch from Saurus and quickly started running in circle's with Saurus chasing the now Darkus Bakugan. "I'm in trouble! Someone call 911 if its not too much trouble!"

"_Water Refrain negated._" Marucho's Baku-pod told the Aquos user as it showed Marucho's ability sealing card's effects wear out.

"Perfect." Marduk quietly said with a tiny smirk on his face.

"Oh well, guess Preyas is getting sent to the Doom Dimension." Leonidas said in an all to casual tone. "To bad, so sad. Oh well, guess these things just happen." Lincoln simply gave his partner and unamused glare in response.

"Do something Marucho!" Dan yelled to the blond boy.

"**Ability Card Activate!**" Marucho was quick to respond as he pulled out the perfect ability card for the situation. "**Time to link up Pyrus and Darkus!**"

"Ah! I'm freaking out man!" Preyas yelled as he and Dan's Serpenoid started glowing due to the ability card.

"_Preyas 4-0-0 G's._" The Baku-pod said as it showed Preyas's power increasing by 100 G's from the vertical link card. As Preyas's power increased, said Bakugan suddenly gained a smirk on his face as Jewl's Saurus roared and tried to slam its first down on Preyas only for the Chameleon Bakugan to catch it in his own hand.

"I must break you." Preyas said to Saurus in a Russian accent before proceeding to unleash a rapid series of jabs to the Subterra Bakugan's face before finishing off with a killer left hook sending Saurus back to ball form and at Jewls feet.

"Are you kidding me!" Jewls yelled as she watched her Saurus land at her feet

"Hehehehe!" Preyas let out a mocking laugh as he glowed blue and turned back to ball form as well and went back to Marucho.

"That was to close for comfort!" Marucho said in a scolding tone as he caught Preyas in his hand. "I almost lost my Preyas. Luckily I remembered to link up the Pyrus and Darkus forces at the last second to pull it off."

"Oh please." Preyas said in a cool and confident voice. "I had it under control the whole time."

"WHY YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BAKUGAN!" Dan, Marucho, and Lincoln yelled in unison as they all gave Preyas some very irritated looks on their faces.

"A very careless display Preyus!" Drago yelled at the Aquos Bakugan.

"He could have been out of my hair but noooo." Leonidas quietly muttered to himself so the others wouldn't here. "But you had to link up Darkus and Pyrus stupid Attribute wheel…"

"Hey lighten up will ya!" Preyas yelled back at everyone. "Afterall I did _win _didn't I?"

"Alright, well this was fun while it lasted girlfriend." Jenny said as she pulled out a gate card.

"But this battle is about to-"

_BOOM!_

_BOOM!_

_BOOM!_

The girls shrieked and hugged each other as the sound of thunder boomed loudly. Suddenly, looking up to the sky, everyone say dark storm clouds with purple lightning bolts striking down.

"Woah! What's going on?" Dan asked with confusion in voice they were all overshadowed by the storm clouds.

"Well Dan it appeared to be a high chance of cloudy skies with a 30% chance of rain." Preyas said in a weatherman voice. "And let's not forget the scary lightning bolts raining down from above!"

"Yeah but what-WHAT THE?!" When Lincoln looked forward, soon everyone else was looking where he was and flinched when they saw a powerfully dark aura coming from Marduk.

"H-Hey…" Jenny stuttered fearfully. "W-W-What a-are you d-doing?"

"…I think you're right. Lets end this." Marduk said with a smirk on his face as he brought his hand up and opened up his first to reveal a Darkus Bakugan that was also giving off a powerful and intimidating aura. "But its gonna be from me! Don't even try that stupid tsunami wave."

"B-But what are you-" Jewls was saying only to be cut off by Marduk speaking to the Bakugan in his hand.

"So, feeling up for it." Marduk asked with a knowing smirk.

"…"

"I knew you would be." Marduk responded with as he looked up from the Bakugan and narrowed his eyes at Lincoln. "This'll drag his Bakugan out."

"Somethings not right." Drago said as Marduk slowly reared his hand back. "Everyone! Brace yourselves."

"Bakugan Brawl!" Marduk yelled as he threw the Bakugan towards his own gate card in front of Lincoln.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked as he slowly started to tremble and clenched his fist to try and build up bravery. "Something about the Bakugan…" They all watched as the Bakugan rolled on Marduk's gate card before finally stopping when it reached the center.

"_Vladitor Stand."_

With a purple flash that nearly blinded everyone, they all looked up…and their bodies froze in fright.

Standing on Marduk's gate card was a colossal Bakugan that seemed like it was made of darkness and dread itself. Its whole body was covered in heavy armor of purple, black, and dark purple with gold highlights around the chest and a red gem in the very center of his chest plate. He had a purple cape with red highlights and red horns on his head and spiky red hair that went down a little past his neck.

"W-What kinda Bakugan is that…" Marucho said fearfully as they could hear the Bakugan's heavy breathing. Just by breathing this Bakugan shook everyone to the bone.

Lincoln gritted his teeth as he tried to keep a level head and checked his Baku-pod…only for his jaw to drop.

"_Darkus Vladitor enters battle as 5-5-0 G's."_

"WHAT?!" Lincoln shouted at the top his lungs as a look of pure disbelief came to his face. Soon the other Brawlers looked at their Baku-pods and gained a similar reaction. "THAT KIND OF BASE POWER LEVEL IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"No normal Bakugan should have that kind of power!" Drago yelled as he looked up at Vladitor. "What kind of Bakugan is that?!"

"Impressed?" Marduk said with a small smirk as Jenny and Jewls backed away from him out of fear. "Well you haven't seen anything yet…"

Marduk then pulled out an ability card and much like Vladitor himself, the card seemed to have an aura of pure darkness around it. "**Ability Activate…**"

"**Black Hole Destruction Void!**"

Vladitor then glowed powerfully as he rose both of his hands together as a purple and black vortex started to form above his hands. Suddenly the vortex was sucking in everything around it as the mighty winds it created caused everyone in the battle expect for Marduk to cover their eyes unable to see what's going on.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING!" Dan said as he struggling to keep his footing.

"EVERYONE!" Leonidas yelled. "HOLD ON!"

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

Suddenly a large and loud explosion blew everyone back and off their feet. After a few moments, the Brawlers groaned as they slowly started getting up. "Ugh, my head." Lincoln groaned as he rubbed his head.

"Does anyone else hear a thousand little bells!" Dan yelled as he started to get up.

"Everyone ok?" Marucho asked as he looked over everyone.

"I'm fine." Drago said as he floated up.

"I'm totally sending that guy my hospital bill." Preyas groaned from Marucho's shoulder.

"I'll be ok once I rip that guy a new one." Leonidas growled as he floated up himself.

"Guys…" Lincoln said in a trembling voice. "Look…"

Marucho and Dan looked to the battlefield where Lincoln was looking…and they entered shock.

Everything was gone. All the Bakugan that were on the field, all the Gate Cards to. All thar remained were Vladitor and the Gate Card he was on. Looking down, Dan and Marucho saw their Serpenoid and Juggernoid respectively at their feet. Even Jenny's Fear-Ripper and Garganoid were no on the ground in front of the Pop girls feet.

"No…way…" Marucho squeaked out.

"Meep…" Preyas let out before hiding behind Marucho's head.

"That…power…" Drago said in an astonished and even…fearful tone.

"That's the power of Vladitor." Marduk said in a dark tone with a wicked smirk on his face. "The Black Hole Destruction Void completely annilates anything on the field weaker than Vladitor. It even sucks up all the gate cards on the field.

"No way…" Dan said quietly in disbelief. "That's…impossible."

"What are you anyway." Jenny and Jewls said in unison to Marduk in a frighten tone.

Marduk didn't respond.

Just then Vladitor looked down at the brawlers and only continued to let out deep breathes that only seemed to intimidate everyone more.

Everyone…except one.

"Lincoln…send me in." Leonidas told his partner as he looked up at the Darkus Bakugan looking down at them.

"What?!" Lincoln gasped out in disbelief. "Are you crazy!"

"Lincoln." Leonidas said in a serious tone as he looked his partner in the eyes.

Lincoln took a moment to simply look back at Leonidas before sighing. "Alright…if you feel like you can take this guy…then I trust you." Lincoln said as he took Leonidas into his hand.

"He won't know what him. Guaranteed." Leonidas promised as he closed up allowing Lincoln to load up his partner into his launcher.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then shot out his partner right towards Vladitor. "Leonidas Stand!"

As soon as Leonidas was unleashed into the battle, he quickly clashed with Vladitor with the two Darkus Bakugan collided heads and trying to push each other back. "Think your tough huh?!" Leonidas roared as the two Darkus Bakugan locked eyes. "Well then you've never faced anyone like me before!"

"Let's test that theory shall we!" Marduk said with a smirk as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card open!**"

"**Doom Reactor!**"

Suddenly the entire battlefield was covered in a thick purple fog. The sky above them changed into an endless dark abyss and the Gate Card glowed as the ground changed into a field of dark gray stone all over that looked like the any life it may have once had has been completely drain, leaving only empty husk.

"What kind of gate card is this?" Dan said as he started looking around. "Take about a spook fest."

"Daniel…" Dan looked forward and flinched as he saw his partner looking rather weak and slowly started falling down, luckily Dan quickly scoop his partner up in his hands.

"Drago! Are you ok!" Dan asked in a concerned tone.

"I feel…weak…" Drago said in a tone that matched what he just said.

"Same here…" Preyas weakly said from Marucho's shoulder. "I feel like a need a nap…"

"Preyas…" Marucho quietly muttered in a worried tone.

"**ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!**" Looking to the source, they saw Leonidas and Vladitor having the exact opposite reaction to the gate card as they both gained powerful auras of their Attribute.

"Leonidas! What's happening!" Lincoln called out as he quickly checked his Baku-pod.

"_Power levels doubled." _The Baku-pod said as it showed Leonidas and Vladitor's power level's doubling to 800 and 1100 G's each.

"That's off the charts!" Dan said as they both looked at the still clashing Bakugan.

'_So, it IS true._' Marduk thought with a mad grin on his face. '_Now that I know, there's no more reason to stick around. Its better to prepare for a true clash then mess around in games like this.' _Marduk then cleared his throat as he spoke to Lincoln. "Well? Don't you have an ability card to play?"

"What?" Lincoln gasped in response as a nervous bead of sweat came to his face. '_This isn't good, Alpha Blaster only increase's his power by 150 G's. Even if I stack Demonic Dragon on top of it Vladitor is still more powerful. I can't match that pow-'_

"Lincoln, what's happening to your ability card?" The voice of Marucho cut off Lincoln's thoughts as the Loud boy looked at the glowing card in his hand.

Lincoln looked over the card for a moment before his eyes widened. "Its…changed? What's going on?" Lincoln asked himself as he looked at the card some more and then back at his partner clashing with Vladitor. Lincoln then put on a brave face as he held onto the card tightly. "No guts…no glory…" Lincoln then held the ability card out. "**Ability Card Activate!**"

"**Alpha Tsui Mise!**"

Leonidas let out a mighty roar as he grabbed Vladitor tightly by his shoulders as a purple orb charged in his mouth. "_Leonidas power increase by 2-0-0 G's. Vladitor power decrease by 2-0-0 G's." _Lincoln's Baku-pod showed the Loud boy Leonidas increasing to 1000 G's and Vladitor decreasing to 900 G's.

"BURN IN HELL!" Leonidas roared as he let loose and fired a massive purple and black laser point blank at Vladitor.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Jenny and Jewls screamed in fright as the beam went right above them with Marduk simply smirking the whole time.

When the beam ceased, Vladitor was gone and everyone looked to Marduk and saw the Darkus Bakugan landing at the 15-year-olds feet. Just then the battlefield returned to normal and as this happened, Drago and Preyas felt their energy return to them.

"Ah, that's much better." Drago said with a sigh as he floated up again.

"Yeah! I feel like a brand new Bakugan!" Preyas said as he started jumping up and down on Marucho's shoulder.

"Why is he smiling." Lincoln asked himself quickly as Marduk's smirk never left as he simply picked Vladitor off the ground.

Once the masked teen had his partner back in his hand, he looked up at Leonidas who seemed to be giving him the evil eye. "The Doom Reactor proves it." Marduk said, actually taking Leonidas back a bit. "Normally it would make any Bakugan tremble powerlessly expect for Vladitor…and you as well."

Marduk then looked at Lincoln and gave one last mad grin. "We'll meet again Lincoln. This was merely a demonstration for both me and you. And know that I know what I need to know, I come properly prepare for the next time we clash. But now, I must be on my way. I have better things to do with my time then play the rest of this _game _out."

"Wait, you're ditching us!" Jenny yelled with anger in her voice.

"You can't just do that!" Jewls yelled in addition.

However, Marduk simply closed his eye and rose up his left hand and snapped his fingers. And suddenly with a white flash…he was gone.

Everyone's jaw simply dropped as Leonidas returned back to ball form and went back to Lincoln's hand. "Well…great disappearing act at least." Preyas quipped following by a nervous chuckle.

"Man, that guy was crazy." Dan muttered before a grin came to his face. "But hey, on the bright side this makes this way easier for us!"

"Yeah you're right!" Marucho said as a smile came to his face as well. "With Marduk outta the picture we only have to deal with Jenny and Jewls! And they only have 1 Bakugan each while we all have 5 in total!"

"So, this is in the bag!" Lincoln said with a pumped-up fist.

Jenny growled a bit in response before saying. "Oh, you think so huh! Well think again! **Gate Card set!**" Jenny then threw a gate card in front of Lincoln's space. "Bakugan Brawl!" Jenny then shot her last Bakugan out of her launcher towards her gate card. "Aquos Siege stand!"

"Ha! Lot a good that Siege is gonna do ya without those two other Bakugan!" Dan stated with a grin as he and his teammates looked up at Jenny's siege. This only served to anger Jenny more. "Alright guys leave this to me! **Gate Card set!**" Dan then threw his own gate card to the right of Jenny's.

"Alright Drago, its up to you!" Dan said as he took his partner and loaded him into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then shot out Drago towards his own gate card. "Drago Stand!" Letting out a might roar, Drago entered the battlefield.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Jewls then stepped up as she shot out her last Subterra Bakugan towards Dan's gate card. "Subterra Centipoid Stand!" Now standing off against Drago was a Centipoid that, when Dan check his Baku-pod, had an equal power level of 340 G's.

"**Gate Card Open!**" Dan commanded as he held his hand out.

"**Ring of Flames!**" Drago finished as the gate card opened up to show a fire attribute gate card that increased Drago's power to 420 G's.

"Do it Drago!" Dan cheered as his partner let out a roar. "I bumped up your power by 80 G's and your fire attribute should squash that bug big time!"

"**Ability Card activate!**" Jewls then quickly pulled out an ability card to counterattack. "**Hooking up Subterra to Aquos!**"

"Oh no!" Dan let out as both Centipoid and Siege glowed as their power levels increase with Centipoid going up to 440 G's.

"**Ability Card Activate!**" Jewls then pulled out yet another ability card. "**Attractor!**"

"Watch this boys!" Jenny said as a path was formed within the flaming environment allowing Siege to pass and walk next to its Subterra ally. "We just hooked up out Bakugan to fight together!"

"Not good!" Dan yelled as Siege and Centipoid faced down Drago. "Its two against one! I can't beat that!" Dan then checked his Baku-pod and saw that Siege and Centipoids combined power levels equaled 880 G's.

"Sorry, looks like you lose." Jewls said to Dan as they were ready to watch their Bakugan send Drago to the Doom Dimension.

"Not yet! Watch and learn!" Marucho yelled as Dan and Lincoln watched him pull out an ability card. "**Counter Ability Activate! **If I reverse the diagonal relationship and hook up Pyrus with Darkus, it neutralizes the combination attack.

Suddenly only Preya's legs closed up as the Bakugan was once again sent spinning into battle. Once again, a stage appeared revealing Preyas holding the same umbrella as before. "Oh woohoo, Mr. Dragon." Preyas called out to Drago in a high-pitched voice. "I heard a rumor you were looking for a dance partner."

"Your wearing on me Preyas!" Drago said in an annoyed tone.

"Hey no fair!" Jenny called out while waving her arms around. "Since when was it ok to let Preyas crash the party! Don't you know it's against the rules! I wanna recount! I wanna launch an official protest."

Jewls was quick to check her Baku-pod to see the rules on this matter. "According to the rules, they can use an attribute linking move to counterattack!" Jewls explained as Jenny gasped and looked to see Preyas was already on it and glowing.

"Change of Attribute!" Preyas said as he jumped up high into the air. "Darkus!" With a brief flash of color, Preyas changed his Attribute from Aquos to Darkus.

"Its working!" Marucho said as Preyas's power increased to 400 and Drago's to 520 bring a combined power total to 920 G's.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Jenny and Jewls loudly yelled in panic as they held onto each other.

"Hey I want in on this to!" Lincoln said with a smirk as he held up an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Darkus Gravity!**" Leonidas then closed up as he glowed and was automatically sent into battle along with Preyas and Drago. "**Ability Activate: Demonic Dragon!**"

Leonidas roared as his muscles bulked up with power, raising his power by 50 G's and lowering Siege and Centipoid's power by 50 each bring the Brawlers up to 1370 G's and Jenny and Jewls to 780 G's.

"Now for the big finish Drago!" Dan said as he activated an ability card.

"**Boosted Dragon!**" Drago roared as his power increased to 620 G's and bringing the combined total to 1470 G's.

Drago, Preyas, and Leonidas then all charged at once at their two opponents. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" The pop duo yelled once more. "THIS IS WORSE THAN A BAD HAIR DAY!"

Drago, Preyas, Leonidas then all struck their opponents at once easily defeating them and securing a win for the Brawlers. Each of the Bakugan then glowed and returned to ball and went back to their respective partners hands. "We did! Yay!" Marucho cheered as he jumped onto Dan and Lincoln wrapped them up onto a group hug.

"Meanwhile, Jenny and Jewls simply sighed in defeat. "At least we're popular." The pop duo said as the field started to glow and-

* * *

Time started again as Haiku, Lori and Runo looked to see their friends celebrating and Jenny and Jewls slumping in defeat. However, they also noticed a distinct lack of Marduk. "So, I take it you guys won." Runo assumed from the sight of the three guys group hugging.

"Well there were a few hiccups here and there, but we pulled through." Dan stated with a confident smirk and thumbs up. "It was no sweat though."

Marucho then turned to the two girls and gave them a smile. "I know you both love this game girls. But if you ask me battling for that creep Masquerade is not the smartest thing in the world to do. But then again if you ever wanna hook up." The blond boy offered the two.

"Pfft, who cares about mascara when theirs three hunky home boys like you to battle." Jewls said getting the three guys to blush. Meanwhile Haiku narrowed his eyes at the green haired pop singer when she said this.

"Yo, yo girl. We gotta role." Jenny told her fellow singer after she check her Baku-pod for the time.

"Oh that's right!" Jewls said as she checked her own Baku-pod. "I can't believe we forgot all about it!"

"We got a show tonight!" The two said in unison before they started to run off, discarding their launchers. "Super Sync Sound Extravaganza rocks!"

Once they were gone, everyone simply looked on and sweat dropped. "I know my understanding of your language is limit, but I believe the correct word to describe those two are Flakes." Drago commented after the girls left.

"No." Leonidas stated. "The correct word is bit-"

"Don't! Even! Finish that word!" Lori quickly interrupted the Darkus Bakugan.

"Wait, where'd Marduk go?" Haiku asked as she looked around the area for that mysterious Brawler.

"He bailed mid battle." Dan explained as the three girls faced them. "He brought out his big gun and then took a die before teleporting out or something."

"Teleported?" Runo asked with a raised brow.

"Heh, talk about literally being a coward." Lori said with crossed arms.

"No, that's not it at all." Lincoln said with a surprisingly serious tone that got everyones attention. "The way he fought…it was more as if he was simply observing, testing, planning. He said he came her to simply make sure of something and it looks like he got just that. We'll see him again so we gotta be prepared."

"Just now," Lincoln then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see it was Haiku's hand with the goth giving him a tiny smile. "I'm with you."

"Same here little bro." Lori said, putting a hand on Lincoln's other shoulder.

"I agree, Marduk is of great concern." Drago said as images of Vladitor came into his mind. Similar with Leonidas, Drago had no idea who Vladitor was. But he did now that, that Bakugan had an aura of pure dread and darkness. "However, what also concerns me is the one you humans call Masquerade."

"Well if you ask me, I say we challenge that varmint to a showdown." Preyas said with a cowboy voice while jumping on top of Marucho's head.

"Well Drago?" Dan asked his partner. "What do you think?"

"…Lets get the others on chat." Drago said after a moment of silence. "I believe its time I told you the full story."

"The story of _Vestroia."_

* * *

A ways away from Marucho's building was a dark alley with nothing there. Not even trashcans. But there was someone. "So…what do you think?" It was revealed to be Marduk as he held up Vladitor close to his face, his smirk everpresent.

"…Yes." The Bakugan known as Vladitor responded in a purely demonic voice. "Leonidas and me are…similar in the way we were created."

"So then, what should we do with him then? And that white-haired kid." Marduk asked as he looked up at the sky.

"I couldn't care less about that human. Do what you like." Vladitor explained as Marduk simply nodded. "As for Leonidas…lets give him time. Time to battle and grow. After that, we shall see. He'll either make a fine addition to our forces or we'll simply destroy him. Either way, we'll get some enjoyment out of this. What about the humans, Masquerade and Hal-G?"

"Pfft, let that idiot and geezer think we're working for them." Marduk said with confidence in his voice. "Once the time is right, we'll take the Silent and Infinity Cores for ourselves. What are they gonna do? Battle us for it?"

"Hehehe." Vladitor darkly laughed. "I would rather enjoy tossing that Hydranoid around like a ragdoll again."

"Same here partner." Marduk agreed as he leaned back against the alley wall. "So, lets just wait out for a bit and then come back and truly begin to battle.

* * *

Back in Marucho's house, Dan, Marucho, Runo, Lincoln, Lori, and Haiku were all in Marucho's room with their Bakugan on Marucho's desk with both Julie and Alice on the video chat on Marucho's jumbo tron.

"I believe now is the right time to tell you all about the universe where we Bakugan originate from." Drago told everyone as they all paid close attention.

"You mean Vestroia right?" Dan asked.

"That is correct…" Drago said as he began "his story.

"Vestroia is a vast dimension comprised of six Attribute worlds. You humans would know them better as fire, earth, light, the dark side, water, and wind. In the very center of our universe there are two opposing cores. Infinity, the source of all positive energy. And the Silent Core, the source of all negative energy. These two opposing forces maintain the equilibrium of our dimension."

"But there was one rouge Bakugan who, in his lust for control, schemed to seize all the power for himself. This has never happened in our universe before. His name was Naga. His mission was to penetrate the cores and seize their power. This has never been done before."

"Somehow however, he didn't succeed, and he released all the negative energy! It has affected us and now it has spilled into your world!"

"And everyone didn't live happily ever after." Preyas stated once Drago was finish. "And that's it. Bye-bye."

Everyone gasped in response as Dan spoke up. "Aw man, this makes sense now." The Pyrus user said as the pieces quickly came together in his head. "All those cards must have fallen from some sort of wormhole or something into our world. The crazy thing is, everyone who found em thought they were some kind of game. Boy were we ever wrong."

"Yeah, no kidding." Preyus commented once Dan was gone. "You think I came here for my health? Before Naga screwed everything up, I was just a cute piece loving Bakugan. Then suddenly I got knocked on my noggin! The next thing I know, I wake up in your world. I was freaked! I couldn't recall a thing! All I knew was that I had to find myself. Find the cute and cuddly Preyas I remember deep down inside of me. A Bakugan who loves long walks on the beach. A warm fire, and good book and-"

"Gee Preyas, that's almost interesting." Marucho cut his new partner off, trying not to sound mean. "But you mind not interrupting again?"

"Sorry Drago, go ahead and finish your story." Dan said once Preyas kept quiet.

"After Naga had disrupted our world and the Bakugan began entering into yours, there was one human who crossed over into Vestroia." Drago revealed to everyone.

"A human crossed over?" Lincoln said with disbelief in his voice as everyone gasped. "Are you serious?!"

"Yes." Drago answered with nothing but seriousness in his voice. "This human showed Naga how to enter the center of the world. He opened the portal. That was the last I saw of Naga. Vestroia fell into a world of sheer madness. The negative power overwhelming the minds and wills of the Bakugan who lived there. The violence escalated and it seemed like there would be no end to it. That was when I decided to enter your realm to put a stop to this insanity. But when I crossed over, you were in the middle of one of your games. That's the first you saw of me Dan."

"Yeah I remember." Dan said as he recalled his battle with Shuji being the first time we encountered Drago. "That vision I had a while ago. It seemed real."

"Wow." Runo commented quietly, amazement in her voice before looking down at Tigrerra. "So how long have you been here Tigrerra?"

"Not long after Drago left Vestroia, I followed." The Haos Bakugan began to explain. "I realized my world was collapsing in on itself and the only way to save it was to come to your world. Just before I left, I saw the infinity core leave Vestroia to enter your realm. Forever!"

"Yes, I sensed the same thing." Kabukito began adding in her part of the story. "I was meditating and reaching out to those departed when I felt the wave of negative energy pass by. My mind was strong enough to resist it, but then I felt the positive power of the infinity core soon leave completely. It was then that the spirits guided me to leave our world and come to earth and meet up with my queen to help and aid her in restoring Vestroia."

"And you've been here almost as long as since the cards fell." Lori said as she looked to her partner. "Right Chrysopeon?"

"Right dearie." The Ventus Bakugan confirmed. "I was simply flying around one day in my world when a giant wormhole suddenly appeared and sucked me and many other's inside. The next thing I knew I woke up in the tree in your family's backyard.

"If I had to guess, Naga must have summoned the Infinity Core here." Drago said once Chrysopeon was finished talking. "Now our mission is to return the two cores. Otherwise, Vestroia is doomed!"

"Geez…" Lori muttered as nervous bead of sweat came down her face. "Talk about high stakes."

"We must find the human who corrupted Naga's mind." Drago told everyone.

"But who is he?" Haiku asked as she looked at Drago.

"If I remember correctly…" Drago said as he tried to remember the name.

"_It's Michael."_

"Michael who?" Dan asked with confusion.

Just then Julie gasped as she got everyone's attention. "Hold on you guys!" Julie said before stepping off screen with everyone else hearing her go through a bunch of things in her room. "Come on! Where is it? I just saw it here!" Just then Julie returned on screen. "ok, you are not gonna believe this! Check this out!" Julie then showed everyone…a science book.

"Yeeeeah..." Runo let out with a deadpanned tone. "I hate to break to you but that's just your 7th Grade science book."

"For your information Runo, I'm not as stupid as you look!" Julie stated with a smug look.

"Ahahahahaha!" Leonidas laughed loudly as Runo gained flames in her eyes.

"AAAAAAHHH! I'M NOT STUPID!" Runo yelled as suddenly she grabbed a giant hammer from nowhere.

"Ok, take it easy." Alice said calmly, trying to calm Runo's temper.

"Yeah just relax Runo, I think I know who Michael is." Julie said as she flipped through the pages of the textbook. "Is this the guy!" Julie then showed everyone a page from the science book showing a picture of an old man in his mid-sixties with gray hair, mustache and beard with glasses and a lab coat on.

Alice gasped loudly as Drago started jumping up and down. "Yes! That's him! That's him!" Drago said as he instantly recognized the man in the book.

"That's Dr. Michael Gehabich." Marucho stated as they all looked at the picture of Michael." The multi-millionaire scientist. Last I heard is he went missing a couple months ago."

"The guys a total geek!" Dan commented as he held in his laughter.

Meanwhile, Alice seemed to be frozen in shock from what she was seeing.

"So what do you know about this guy?" Runo asked, now completely calmed down.

"He needs a total make over quick before I-" Preyas was saying before Marucho cut him off by putting him in his fist.

"Would you zip it!" Marucho scolded the Aquos jokester. "You're not helping the situation with your lame jokes Preyas."

"I know this may sound weird, but do you think that when this Dr. Michael went missing, he really crossed over to Vestoria?" Marucho suggested as Dan crossed his arms and went into deep thought.

"Hmmmm, nah seems to farfetched to me." Dan said after thinking it over.

"Its still possible." Lori added in as she thought the possibility was honestly pretty high.

"What do you think Leonidas?" Lincoln asked his partner as he looked down at the Darkus Bakugan. "And for that matter, what was it like for you in Vestroia before you came here."

"I'm…not sure…" Leonidas slowly answered it as he turned his back to his partner. "Its honestly pretty foggy. Its like I have bits and pieces of what Vestroia is like, but its like nothing comes together. The clearest memories I have is when I came here. As for Michael, honestly no clue."

"Well that doesn't help." Dan said with a sigh.

"H-Hey…I'm sorry everyone." Alice said as she finally managed to start speaking again but a look of shock still on her face. "But I have to go!" Before anyone could question anything, Alice logged off.

"Ok…bye…" Dan said with a little bit of disappointed him his voice at seeing the ginger girl leave suddenly.

* * *

With Alice, the girl was trembling as he was looking at a photo on a desk she was standing in front of. A photo of Micheal. "No _Grandfather Michael_…it can't be…" Alice said as she trembled even more with her voice started to break. "You and Vestroia…it can't be true…"

* * *

**_Now how was that for a chapter! Quite a bit happened and of course plenty of story stuff which is always fun! Don't worry, Marduk and Vladitor will be back soon enough, the best villains take their time after all. But anyway, remember to follow, fav, and leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter..._**

**_"Fight or Flight"_**


	12. Fight or Flight

_**Ok, not as long as my other chapter but hey, sometimes a shorter chapter is nice. This was still plenty fun to write and I hope you guys enjoy it. **_

* * *

Currently at the airport in Detroit City, a group of three were hanging out nearby in an area where they could watch the planes land. This group consisted of three people with two being boys and one being girls. The first boy had light black hair and brown eyes with a sleeveless brown vest with white fur around the neck area. He had long sleeves black gloves and an orange sleeveless shirt under his vest and white shorts with a black belt around it and in his hands was a Pyrus Bakugan. This boy's name was Takashi.

The second boy had a similar hair and eye color with a blue sleeveless shirt on and a green jacket tied around his waist and googles on his face. In his hands was a gate card. This boy's name was Kosuke.

"You know what's really cool is when you use the ability cards to block a move." Takashi stated as both he and Kosuke were busy talking about their favorite topic. Bakugan.

"Yeah but what I'm really stoked about is using the ability cards in a combination attack." Kosuke explained with his friend nodding in response.

"Yeah!" Takashi said before he and Kosuke looked behind them and at the third member of their group. "Hey Mui, come look at this. We'll show you a couple of new Bakugan battle tricks"

Mui was currently giving all her attention to the landing area of the airport. Mui herself was a girl with honey blond hair going just a bit past her shoulders wearing a dress that was light pink on the top half and dark pink on the bottom.

"Yeah their really cool!" Kosuke followed up.

After a moment, Mui turned to them with an expression that showed she didn't catch what they said. "Sorry, I wasn't listening guys." She apologized to her male friends. "It wasn't important was it."

Both boys looked to each other and hummed for a bit, concerned about their friend, before Takashi looked back at Mui and smiled. "Hey, we know your thinking about your little brother again." He said in an understanding down before whispering to Kasuke. "Say something."

"Uh, yeah!" Kasuke quickly said as he turned back to Mui. "You're out here everyday waiting for him to show up."

Mui gave them both a sad smile in response. "Yeah, I know." She said softly before looking back to the airport with a sadden expression as she remembered the day where her parents divorced, forcing her and her brother to be separated with Mui staying with her mom and her brother going with her dad. "Hurry…I'll be waiting for you…here."

_"Waiting won't bring you anything. You have to make things happen."_

An echoy voice called out to them and Takashi, Kusuke, and Mui all turned to see none other then the masked brawler himself, Masquerade.

"I can't grant you any wish with these cards." Masquerade told them as he held up two Doom Cards in his hand. "All you have to do is use them."

All three of them looked at the Doom Cards for a moment before looking at each other and deciding what to do.

* * *

Back in Royal Woods at the Loud House, Lori was currently getting Vanzilla started as Lincoln was making his way out of the house. Not to long after the battle with Jenny, Jewls, and Marduk and Drago telling them the story of Vestroia Alice had suddenly announced she was coming to Royal Woods to visit all her friends. It was a bit unexpected but hey, they weren't complaining about getting the chance to meet her in person. Especially Dan who seemed to be more excited than everyone else.

And Lori and Lincoln were about ready to head down to the airport with Marucho, Dan, and Runo saying they'll meet them there.

"Alright Lori! Just needed to take care of something." Lincoln yelled to his sister as he opened the door and got ready to leave. "On my way!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Lincoln looked back and saw Lola behind them with narrowed eyes. "Don't you still have some chores to do?"

"Sorry Lola but I'm meeting the gang to pick up Alice at the airport." Lincoln explained to the pageant princess as he started to leave. "I'll do them later."

"I'm telling mom!" Lola yelled as she started to march off.

Lincoln wasn't intimidated however as he had just the thing for this. "Hey Lola, look what I got." Lincoln said as Lola turned back to him and saw Lincoln pull some pieces of candy out of his pocket. "Candy!"

"…Bride accepted!" Lola said with a sudden smile as Lincoln tossed her the candy with Lola quickly munching it down. "Nom! Nom! Nom! Nom!"

"Well that was easy." Leonidas said from Lincoln's shoulder as they left the house.

"Years of experience my friend." Lincoln told his partner as he shut the door behind him. "I know how to deal with all my sisters, so I just need the right tools. Now then, to meet up with Alice." Lincoln said as he got into Vanzilla with Lori quickly driving away.

* * *

"Ugh! Where the heck is Dan!?" About an hour later, Runo, Marucho, Lori, and Lincoln were all sitting on a bench inside the airport waiting for a certain Pyrus user. "Don't tell me he got loss just using the bathroom!"

"Well you know Dan." Marucho said with a sweat drop. "Sometimes he loses track of certain things."

"Still though." Lori said with an annoyed sigh. "He literally could have just read one of the maps around the airport but nope we're still waiting for him. What's with guys and getting lost."

"Hey, I don't get lost." Lincoln claimed as Lori and Runo gave him a 'really' look. "…Most of the time. I can at least say I haven't gotten lost using the bathroom."

"Fair enough." Runo said with a shrug. "But seriously its just-"

"There she is!" Marucho suddenly yelled, cutting Runo off as he suddenly pointed forward. "There's Alice!"

After hearing this news, the three of them quickly looked forward and saw that indeed Alice was walking through the airport, her back turned to everyone while dragging a yellow suitcase along her.

"Alice!" All four of them yelled in unison as they quickly ran towards the girl.

"Hey Alice!" Lori yelled as they got closer.

"Over here!" Marucho said with a big smile on his face as he waved his arms around.

Alice finally heard everyone and quickly stopped to look at the group with a sweet smile on her face. A few minutes later everyone was now sitting back on the bench from earlier with Alice and her luggage now part of it. "So Alice, you must be exhausted after that long flight." Runo said as everyone had their eyes on Alice.

"Not really." Alice replied with her sweet smiles still on her face. "I slept on the plane all the way from Moscow so it didn't feel like it took that long."

"Lucky." Lori said as she sat to Alice's right with Marucho and Lincoln sitting on the other side of the bench behind them. "The last time I went on a plane I couldn't get a bit of sleep."

"Ya know Alice if you had let me know ahead of time you were coming, I could have set up a private flight for you." Marucho informed the ginger haired girl. "Your trip would have taken half as long and I could have had your favorite foods prepared on the flight."

"We get it kid, you're loaded." Leonidas said as he turned to Marucho. "No need to go bragging about it."

"Hey watch your tongue buster!" Preyas yelled as he came onto the bench. "Or I'll have to teach you same manners!"

"…" Leonidas didn't say a word and simply stepped two inches closer to the Aquos Bakugan.

"Ah! Please don't hurt me!" Preyas quickly closed up and rolled back to Marucho for safety.

"Come on, no fighting you two." Alice told the two as she looked down at the two Bakugan.

"Wow…" Preyas let out as he was quickly reddened of his prior fears and looked up at Alice. "So, you're Alice huh? You're really pretty."

"Why thanks." Alice said with a quick giggle. "So are you Preyas."

Just then Tigerra and Chrysopeon rolled up next to Preyas and Leonidas as looked up at Alice. "You are indeed a sight to behold." Tigrerra compliment.

"Indeed." Chrysopeon agreed with Alice now blushing from all the compliments she was receiving. "I must say it's a delight to meet you."

"Alright, let's not overwhelm Alice her." Lori said as she put a hand on the blushing girl's shoulder. "Its really great to have you here with us Alice."

"Thanks, and its nice getting to finally meet you all in person." Alice told everyone making them all smile.

"Now if only we can get Julie here and then we'd have the whole gang together." Lincoln stated as right now the only member of the brawlers not in Royal Woods was Julie who was currently still home in Australia.

However, Marucho looked to Lincoln with a raised brow. He knew there was still another member other then Julie that wasn't with them but given the history between _him _and Lincoln and Dan mentioning him will probably only sour the mood.

Just then Alice looked to the Bakugan again before reaching into the pocket. "Oh, that reminds me, I brought gifts for all of you." The ginger haired girl told them.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that." Tigrerra told her in a kind tone.

"Oh yes she should have!" Preyas said as he started bouncing up and down. "I love presents."

However, all the Bakugan looked up and were somehow confused as Alice brought up a thumb drive. "What's that?" Leonidas asked.

"There some fresh battle simulations." Alice answered the Darkus Bakugan. "They're set up to match your Attributes. You like em?"

"Oh." Tigerra let out in interest.

"Yeah, gee thanks." Preyas said sarcastically.

"Why thank you dear." Chrysopeon said kindly. "That was a lovely thing to make us."

"Eh, simulations are alright. But I prefer actually kicking ass then watching a version of myself made of 1's and 0's kick ass." Leonidas informed her as he turned to Preyas. "For example."

Leonidas then bashed his body into Preyas sending the Aquos Bakugan to the floor. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Preyas yelled as he hit the floor with Marucho quick to pick his partner up.

Alice simply giggled in response as Marucho spoke up once setting Preyus back down. "Ya see Alice is the brains of the Battle Brawlers." The blond boy stated. "She knows more about the game then any of us."

"She doesn't battle but if you need to know anything about the game, she's the one to ask." Lori followed up on Marucho's statement.

Just then Alice started looking around the area they were at and a frown soon came to her face as she failed to see the person that she was kinda the most excited about seeing. "Hey, where's Dan?" Alice asked as she continued looking around for the Pyrus user.

"Needed to use the john and got himself lost." Leonidas explained.

"O-Oh…I see…" Alice said with a bit of disappointment and sadness in her face making Lori quickly pat her back in cheer her up.

"Guess one of us should go looking for him huh." Lincoln stated as he looked at everyone.

"Yeah I guess..."

"It would be most optimal…"

"Literally a good idea…"

Lincoln's face slowly turned to a frown after everyone said their piece and looked like they were in no rush to stand up. "Gee don't everyone go at once." Lincoln said with a bit of annoyance in his voice as he picked up Leonidas. "Come on, let's go find him."

"Guess its idiot season." Leonidas said as he went onto Lincoln's shoulder.

* * *

"Ah this bites." Dan said as he walked through the airport having no idea where he was going. "How'd they get lost in an airport."

"You should know all about that Dan." Drago said from inside Dan's vest pocket. "Haven't you noticed we've been walking in circles."

"I'm not lost!" Dan said back as he looked down at his partner. "I just went to the bathroom and forgot which direction we we're going."

"That sounds like lost to me!" Drago stated with annoyance in his voice. Just then Drago sniffed around and decided to speak about something he's noticed since this morning. "And what's that smell?"

"What smell?" Dan asked with confusion.

"Its coming from you since we left." Drago told his partner. "Its strange you don't usually smell this nice."

Dan had a tick mark of annoyance appear on his head at Drago's quip about his usual smell. "For your information its called cologne." Dan explained to the Pyrus Bakugan. "I put it on before we left."

"Why?" Drago continued asking questions. "You've never done it before."

"I just did alright!" Dan snapped a little bit as he continued walking in who know's what direction. "Just wanted to smell nice for when Alice got here."

"Your feelings are so obvious human." Drago muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Dan asked with more annoyance in his voice.

"Just go find a map or something!" Drago yelled at the Pyrus Brawler.

* * *

"Hopefully Linc can find him soon." Lori as she rest laid back in her seat.

"If I may ask Alice why did you suddenly come to visit us?" Marucho asked in a curious tone. "Are you here on important business?"

"What? No." Alice claimed. "Marucho I just felt like seeing all of you in person." The ginger haired girl then turned to Runo and gave her a friendly and sweet smile. "Runo thanks for letting me stay with you."

"No problemo!" Runo responded with a smile. "You know you're welcome at my house anytime Alice. My mom and dad are totally stoked when they heard you were coming for a visit. My mom even made a big batch of Tuna Surprise special just for you."

Lori stuck her tongue out in disgust as Marucho spoke up. "You're lucky Alice that's the one thing Runo's mom knows how to make. You'll be eating tuna for breakfast lunch and dinner and maybe even desert to if you're really lucky."

"I don't eat it myself so I'm sure they'll be plenty to take home with you." Runo said as she as she put her hands on her cheeks. "Guess I'll have to eat pizza again. Total bummer."

"Please, if anything you're the lucky one." Lori said with a deadpanned tone towards Runo.

"Yeah. I know." Runo said smugly.

As the two started talking, Drago's story from a few days ago quickly came to Alice's mind. But not only that, ever since then Alice has been seeing these strange visions in her sleep all centered around her grandfather. Her grandfather being the very man that Drago said gave Naga the ability to enter the center of Vestroia where the two cores are. She's been trying to make connections between all of this and Masquerade. She wanted to talk to her friends about it but was afraid of what they might think of her if they knew her grandfather was Michael. And just as Alice was thinking about speaking up…

"Hey you."

The group of four looked to see that Takashi and Kasuke were standing in front of them and glaring with Mui a little bit behind them looking rather timid. Just then Kasuke pointed to all of them and spoke with his voice having a bit of an echo. "You're friends with Dan Kuso and Lincoln Loud, right?"

"That's right." Alice answered as they all looked at the three in front of them. "Who are you?"

The boys didn't say anything, but instead raised up their Doom Cards which caused everyone to instantly know what they were here for. "You've been sent by Masquerade!" Lori yelled as the rest of her group gasped.

* * *

After everything was decided, the two groups were now outside the airport. Takashi and Kasuke were on one side with Mui close behind them with Lori and Runo standing next to each other glaring them down with Alice close behind and Marucho standing a bit to the side.

"Are you sure you two can beat them?" Marucho asked in a worried tone as Runo and Lori equipped their recently obtained launchers with Runo's having white and yellow color scheme and Lori's having a green and white color scheme. "Maybe we should wait for Dan and Lincoln to turn up."

"No way!" Runo quickly retorted. "We don't need those two here. I know me and Lori can take these two!"

"Totally!" Lori said as she strapped her launcher on tight. "These two are literally gonna get a taste of girl power." The eldest Loud sibling then looked back at Alice with a smile. "And with Alice helping us there's no way we'll lose."

Alice smiled back at them and nodded as the two boys started talking to each other. "Hey Takashi, did you hear that?" Kasuke asked in an arrogant tone.

"Yeah, finally some decent competition." Takashi replied back as he and Kasuke equipped a Pyrus and Darkus Masquerade launcher respectively.

"Um, guys. Are you sure about this?" Mui asked in an unsure tone.

"You don't want us to battle?" Takashi asked as he and Kasuke turned back to Mui.

"But Mui is we beat them then you'll get to see you brother!" Kasuke reminded her as Masquerade had promised them if they'd beat the Brawlers then he'd arrange a reunion between Mui and her little brother.

Mui simply hummed and looked down. Not saying a thing but still not feeling to comfortable with this. "That girl must be planning their stradegy." Marucho said as he and the rest of his friends witnessed but didn't hear their conversation.

"Hey, quit yapping and lets brawl!" Runo yelled as she pulled out her field card along with Lori.

Soon enough the two boys pulled out their field cards with all four of them quickly raising them into the air. "**Field Open!**" They all said in unison with Runo's card glowing yellow, Lori's glowing green, Takashi's glowing red, and Kasuke's glowing purple.

With Mui joining the boys and Alice joining the girls by being close enough to the opening field, time stopped for the rest of the world as the Bakugan field opened around them.

"**Doom Card set!**" Takashi and Kusuke said together as they dropped their cards onto the field causing two waves of purple energy to spread through out the field.

"**Gate Card set!**" Lori, Runo, Takashi, and Kusuke said in unison as they all threw their cards onto the field with Lori's landing in front of Takaski, Runo's landing in front of Kasuke, Takashi's landing in front of Lori, and Kasuke's landing in front of Runo.

"I wonder what our first move should be?" Alice questioned as she put a hand to her chin in thought.

"I think I have a good plan Alice." Lori said as she pulled out a gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Lori then threw her second gate card right next to Runo's. She then pulled out a Ventus Bakugan and loaded it up into her launcher. "Alright, Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot our her Bakugan towards Takashi's gate card. "Ravenoid Stand!" With a great typhon of wind, Lori's Ravenoid flew high above the card it landed on.

"_Ravenoid enters battle at 3-6-0 G's._" Takashi's Baku-pod told him as Takashi looked at the Bakugan on his gate card.

"She chose to land on my gate card even after sending out another gate card? What's she up to?" Takashi asked with a suspicious tone as he loaded a Pyrus Bakugan into his shooter. "Well she's in for a big surprise! Bakugan Brawl!" Takashi then shot out his Bakugan towards his own card. "Pyrus Garganoid stand!" With a vortex of fire, Garganoid roared as it entered battle and flew up to Ravenoids level.

"_Garganoid stands at 3-1-0 G's." _Lori's Baku-pod told her, showing her at a 50 G lead.

"Sorry but all that power won't do you any good if its zapped right away!" Takashi said as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card Open: Final Judgement!**"

Takashi's gate card then glowed and suddenly Ravenoid held its head and cried out in pain. "_Ravenoid power decreasing._" The Baku-pod said as it showed Lori's Ravenoid's power level rapidly dropping with no end in sight.

"Check it out! Final Judgement is a gate card that drops any Bakugan that doesn't have the same Attribute as me power level down to 0!" Takashi explained as Ravenoids power kept on decreasing with Garganoid not being affected at all.

"Nice one Takashi!" Kasuke compliment as Mui held her hand over her mouth and could only watch in horror at what was happening. "Even if she tries increasing her power it'll just be drained!"

"Then I won't raise my power." Lori stated causing both boys to raise their eyebrows as she pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Tornado Pandemonium!**" A green tornado then emerged from Lori's ability card and surrounded the gate card Ravenoid and Garganoid were on causing the gate card to lose power and stop glowing.

"_Gate Card nullified._" The Baku-pod said as it showed Ravenoid start to regain its lost power.

"Oh no!" Takashi said as Ravenoid was now back at 360 G's. "That's not good!" Right as he said that, Ravenoid let out a mighty cry as it charged right into Garganoid causing the Pyrus Bakugan to fall to the ground before reverting back to a ball and landing at Takashi's feet. "Dang it!"

"One down, 5 to go." Lori said with a smirk as she caught Ravenoid after it returned back to ball form.

"Just make sure to save some for me, k." Runo said as she loaded up her launcher with a Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then shot out her Saurus towards her own gate card.

"_Saurus enters battle at 3-1-0 G's._" Runo's Baku-pod said as her Saurus entered battle.

"Alright, this should take care of em!" Takashi said as he threw a new gate card where his original one was. "Bakugan Brawl!" Takashi then shot out a Bakugan towards the new gate card. "Serpenoid Stand!" With a loud his, Lori and Runo saw a Pyrus Serpenoid come into battle at 320 G's.

"Now its my move!" Kasuke said as he loaded up his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Kasuke then shot out his Darkus Bakugan at Runo's gate card. "Darkus Fear-Ripper stand!" Runo quickly checked her Baku-pod and saw that Fear-Ripper was at 350 G's.

"Ha! That's not gonna work!" Runo said confidently as she raised her hand up. "**Gate Card open!**"

"Runo wait!" Alice told her friend in concern.

But it was too late as Runo's gate card glowed and showed itself to be a Haos element card that caused Saurus's power level to spike up by 100 G's and bringing to 410 G's. "Alright Saurus! Get them!" Runo cheered as Saurus started to shoulder charge at Fear-Ripper like a football player.

"Is that the best you got?" Kasuke asked with a cocky smirk as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Linking up Darkus and Pyrus!**"

Both Fear-Ripper and Serpenoid glowed with their respective elements as both of their power levels increased by 100. "Get him Fear-Ripper!" Kasuke ordered as Fear-Ripper proceeded to slash Saurus with its large claws.

Saurus roared in pain as the portal to the Doom Dimension opened up and sucked Saurus right into Bakugan Hell. "Saurus! No!" Runo yelled as sadness quickly took hold of her at seeing her Bakugan being sent to the Doom Dimension.

"Oh no…" Lori muttered quietly as Fear-Ripper reverted back to ball form and was caught by Kasuke.

"Truly dreadful…" Chrysopeon softly said as she mourned over Saurus.

"Alright!" Takashi and Kasuke said in unison over the victory.

Mui however was anything but happy. "No…" She quietly said as she covered her mouth. "Poor Bakugan…"

Runo gritted her teeth as tears started to fill her eyes, but the bluette quickly dried them and glared at the two boys. "That's it! No more mercy! **Gate Card set!**" Runo then threw her gate card where her original one was and quickly loaded up her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then shot out her Bakugan at her new gate card. "Griffon Stand!" With a mighty roar of a lion, Runo's Haos Griffin entered battle.

"You still wanna play?" Kasuke asked with a smirk. "You know just because you're on your own gate card doesn't give you the advantage. Watch, Bakugan Brawl!" Kasuke then fired a Bakugan at Lori's second gate card. "Juggernoid stand!"

"_Darkus Juggernoid enters battle at 2-9-0 G's."_ The Baku-pod said as it showed Kasuke's turtle Bakugan coming into the brawl.

"We'll see about that." Lori said as she loaded up her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot at her Bakugan at the opposing Juggernoid. "Ventus Falconeer Stand!" Once it stood, Lori's Falconeer flew high above Juggernoid with its power level being 310.

"Now check this out!" Kasuke said with a smirk as he pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Doom Companion!**" Juggernoid then glowed with a nasty dark aura as Juggernoid suddenly jumped high into the air and aiming at Falconeer. "Doom Companion is an ability that makes sure that our Bakugan are sent to the Doom Dimension together!"

"What?!" Mui suddenly gasped in horror. "You'd…You'd willingly let your Bakugan be defeated…how could you?"

Neither boys seemed to have heard her as they looked to see Lori put a smirk on her face. "Close but no cigar!" Lori yelled as she raised up her hand. "**Gate Card open: Wall Lock!**" Lori's gate card then glowed causing Juggernoid to lose its aura and fall back down to earth with a thud. "Wall Lock is a gate card that completely nullifies any abilities my opponents activate."

Falconeer then let out a battle cry as it dropped kicked Juggernoid right in the face sending the Darkus Bakugan back to ball form and at Kasuke's feet. "She got us again!" Kasuke said with a growl as Mui silently breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hm, face it boys, you're out matched." Lori said as she caught a now ball Falconeer in her hands. Just then Lori brought her other hand up to her face with Chrysopeon sitting in it. "Ready for action Chrysopeon?"

"You better believe it dearie!" Chrysopeon said as she closed back up. Lori smiled at her partner as she loaded her up into the launcher.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot out Chrysopeon towards her first gate card. "Chrysopeon Stand!" With a bright emerald glow everyone watched as the Lamia Bakugan elegantly floated above her gate card.

"Pretty…" Mui silently said as she looked up at Chrysopeon.

"Alright, time to end this once and for all!" Kusuke said as he loaded up his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" He then shot it…at Takashi's gate card. "Darkus Robotallion stand!" No joining Takashi's Pyrus Serpenoid was Kasuke's Darkus Robotallion at 310 G's.

"Trying to beat us with numbers huh?" Runo said with a confident smirk.

However, this smirk soon faded when suddenly Robotallion and Serpenoid…started fighting each other. "Hey what's going on?"

"Why are they literally fighting each other?" Lori asked with confusion in her voice as Takashi and Kasuke gave wicked grins as they chuckled.

"It can't be!" Alice said with a look of worry on her face.

"What? What's wrong Alice?" Lori asked as she and Runo turned their head to her. "What are they trying?"

"A battle sham!" Alice told them making them gasp. "Battle Sham is a special gate card that can defeat any Bakugan on the field if two ally Bakugan land on it and start fighting each other."

"So playing extra dirty now huh?" Lori asked as she glared at the two boys in front of her and pulled out an ability card. "No on my watch! **Ability Activate: Blow away!**" Lori then threw the gate card at Darkus Robotallion causing the Bakugan to be engulfed by a green tornado and be blown onto the gate card Chrysopeon was on.

"No!" Kasuke and Takashi yelled in unison as Serpenoid was once again left alone on its card.

"Now then, **Gate Card open: Character!**" Lori commanded her gate card to open revealing it to be Chrysopeon's character card that doubled her power.

"I'm in trouble!" Kasuke told himself as he checked his Baku-pod and saw Chrysopeon's power rise to 740 G's.

"You boys need to learn some manners!" Chrysopeon told herself as she slammed Robotallion with her tail and easily defeated it sending Robatallion back to ball and at Kasuke's feet.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Kasuke yelled in frustration as he looked down at yet another one of his defeated Bakugan.

Lori smirked in victory once more as Chrysopeon turned back to a ball and was caught by Lori. "You were awesome out there." Lori complimented her partner.

"Oh, you're making me blush." The Lamia Bakugan said as her cheeks turned a little pink.

"Alright! No more fooling around!" Takashi said as he pulled out another Bakugan. "This battle isn't over yet!"

"Seriously, you guys are still trying to win?" Lori said with a bit of a smug look. "Look, you can obviously see that you're outmatched. So how about you cut your loses and give up now!"

"Never!" Kasuke said with a tightened fist. "We're doing this for Mui and Mikoto!"

"Mui and who?" Runo asked with confusion.

"Mikoto?" Lori repeated, not quite understanding what the two boys were talking about.

"Mikoto is Mui's little brother." Kasuke explained to the Brawlers. "Their parents and have separated and now we have no idea where he lives."

"But Mikoto loves Bakugan. So, if we raise our ranking, he's sure to notice where ever he is." Takashi added on. "So, we struck a deal with Masquerade. If we win, Mui will get to see him again."

"That poor girl…" Alice said with sympathy in her voice as a thought came to her. '_Maybe my grandfather Michael could help her.'_

"Oh boo-hoo you're breaking my heart!" Runo said in a rather impatient tone as she glared at the two boys she and Lori were facing. "Are you gonna talk or are you gonna battle?"

"Oh I'll battle alright!" Takashi said as he shot out a Bakugan towards the gate card Runo's Griffon was on. "Falconeer stand!" With a vortex of fire, Takashi sent out his own Falconeer that stood at 340 G's. "Ha! No way you stand a chance."

"Oh we'll see about that!" Runo said with a smirk as she held her hand out. "**Gate Card open: Triple Battle!**" A wall of light then appeared between Griffon and Falconeer ceasing their battle until a third Bakugan came into play. "Its all you Lori!"

"You got it Runo! Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot out a Bakugan towards the triple battle gate card. "Chrysopeon stand!" Once again Lori's partner entered battle and stood alongside Giffon with their power levels adding together to make 660 G's.

"Now lets really pump it up! **Ability Activate: Cut in Saber!**" Runo activated as suddenly Tigrerra closed up all and was automatically sent into battle alongside Griffon and Chrysopeon bringing their combined power levels to 1000 G's.

"It's a pleasure to properly meet you Chrysopeon." Tigrerra said to the Lamia Bakugan. "Now let us all take our opponent down together.

"With pleasure!" Chrysopeon said with a smile.

"**Ability Activate!**" Lori quickly activated to pump it up even more. "**Linking up Ventus and Haos!**" Both Chrysopeon and Tigrerra glowed with their Attribute power as their levels increased by 100 bring the three Bakugan together to 1200 G's.

They all then charged at the lone Falconeer and struck it at once sending it back to ball form and at Takashi's feet. "I don't believe it." Takashi quietly said as he looked down at yet another defeated Bakugan.

"No way!" Kasuke said as he shook his head and glared at their female opponents. "Lets go!"

"No! Please stop!"

Suddenly everyone else in the battle gasped when they heard these words with the speaker being none other then Mui. Mui was looking at her two friends with an expression of sadness with tears building up in her eyes and her body trembling. "Please…" Mui pleaded. "Stop this." The tears then started to fall from her eyes as she covered her face causing Kasuke and Takashi to grow concerned over her.

"Please stop." Mui begged once more. "Mikoto means a lot to me but not like this. Not like the way you two are going about it and what you're trying to do to their Bakugan."

"But Mui…" Kasuke said with a frown.

"What's the matter?" Takashi asked with a worried look.

"Mikoto loves Bakugan." Mui explained, her eyes still filled with tears. "He thinks the world of you two because you have so much respect for the game. I don't know what happened but today your playing seems cruel and mean." Both boys frowned in response. She was right, this game they've been playing awfully dirty and we're just plain jerks. "This game used to be fun."

"…Darn…" Takashi said with guilt in his voice. He then turned to Kasuke and the two nodded at each other before facing the battlefield again. Lori and Runo readied themselves incase the two started battling again…only for Takashi and Kasuke to raise their hands up. "**Doom Card Return!**"

"**Doom Card Return!**" Kasuke said along with Takashi as on their command, their Doom Cards emerged from the battlefield and returned to their hands.

"Sorry, but we're calling it quits." Kasuke said with a small smile on his face and his head slightly lowered. "Mui, we're so sorry. We tried to make you smile but instead we made you cry."

"We'll get you and Mikoto together somehow." Takashi promised his friend making Mui give them a sweet smile and nod her head.

"Hey is this soap opera over yet!" Runo yelled, getting the three's attention. "We can't have you bailing out on us just yet!"

"If you're up for it!" Lori followed up with a nod. "Let's start over and have a real Bakugan Battle!"

"Yeah!" Alice smiled and nodded.

Both parties simply looked to each other and nodded and smiled then…

"BAKUGAN BRAWL!"

* * *

"After all that we lost anyway." Takashi said as now, he, Kasuke, Mui, Runo, Lori, Marucho, and Alice were all on the escalator at the airport.

"Oh well." Kasuke said before turning to the Brawlers. "Sorry if we caused you any trouble. We just really wanted to win and we thought Masquerade could help us."

"Eh, don't sweat it." Runo causally shrugged off. "Things get intense in the heat of battle."

"I won't lie. You guys literally have some good skills." Lori complimented causing both boys to sheepishly scratch the back of their heads.

"I would recommend staying away from Masquerade from now on." Marucho recommended to them. "Its obvious he is far from trust worthy."

Takashi and Kasuke nodded in response as they reached the end of the escalator and got off. "Mui." Takashi said, getting said girl's attention. "We're sorry about making you cry earlier. We hope you meet up with your brother soon.

"Me to. I'm sorry." Kasuke apologized as he and Takashi gave Mui a bow.

"Ah thanks, I know you two meant well." Mui told both of them, accepting their apologies. "I do really apricate what you were trying to do." The girl then walked up to the boys with a sweet smile on her face. "Takashi, Kasuke, you two are the best." Then, catching the two boys off guard, Mui gave them each a smooch on the cheek causing their faces to go bright red and a surprised expression to appear on their faces.

"Hey don't forget about me!" Preyas yelled as everyone started giggling with Takashi and Kasuke holding the spot on their cheek that Mui kissed. "Why is it my breath? Come on! Give me a kiss! Just one on the cheek?"

After that, the two groups parted way leading to the Brawlers to look around the area. "Now then," Lori said as she looked around. "We just have to find-"

"Hey guys! Over here!" They all heard the familiar voice and looked to the source to see Lincoln approaching them and dragging Dan over by his arm. "Finally found him!"

"Hehe…hey guys…" Dan sheepishly said with an embarrassed blush.

"Finally!" Runo said as they all approached the two. "Dan where the heck were you?!"

Before Dan could speak up, Leonidas beat him to it. "Found this idiot walking around in circles." Leonidas told everyone as he turned to Dan. "Hey Zoro, next time bring a map!"

Dan growled and glared at the Darkus Bakugan. "Hey, its not my fault I gotta a little side tracked!" Dan defended himself. "Why didn't-"

"DAN!" Before Dan could finished, he was suddenly tackled into a hug and took a few steps back to balance himself. Dan's arms wrapped themselves around the person who tackled him subconsciously as the Pyrus Brawler looked to see who was in his arms and his face quickly went red as it was none other than Alice in his arms with red cheeks of her own. "Its so good to finally see you!"

"Heh, y-y-yeah you t-to Alice." Dan stuttered as he kept his arms locked around the ginger haired girl. He then looked up to see Lori, Lincoln, and Marucho giving him sly grins and failed to noticed Runo crossing her arms with cheeks puffed out and lightly glaring at Alice. "Y-You w-wanna let go?"

"Hmm, in a bit." Alice said with a giggle that only caused Dan to get more read and more most of the group to start laughing similar to earlier.

Things certainly seemed to be getting crazier in one way or another.

* * *

**_Like I said, simple but fun. I always enjoy writing for Lori and teaming her up with Runo just added to the fun. Things are slowly but surely getting more intense so be sure to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for next time..._**

**_"Lynner, Lynner, Doom Card Winner"_**


	13. Lynner, Lynner, Doom Card Winner

_**Hey everyone! Alright, so just gonna say this right away, I have been looking forward to writing this since I first started this fic and I had a total blast writing it.**_

_**Also, a lot of people guessed what this was about. I just wanna make one thing clear. THAT Loud House episode, the Episode that shall not be named, hasn't happened and never will happened. It has zero impact over this chapter and anything in the future with this fic and this series. Just pointing that out.**_

_**So with that said, I hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

Its been about three days since Alice came to Royal Woods and so far, she's been adjusting great to her new surroundings. As promised Runo and her family had let Alice stay over there and room with Runo. In return Alice became a waitress for the café and since she's been working their business has actually increase. Specifically, male customer's looking to…get an eye on the new ginger haired waitress.

And speaking of people that have their eye on Alice, as Runo and Alice were tending to people at other tables, they heard the bell to the door ring and looked to none other than their fellow Battle Brawlers Lincoln and Dan come into the store.

The two boys got the waitress's attention causing Runo to become a bit surprised and for Alice to have to hid an excited smile at seeing Dan come in. "Wow, didn't expect to see you two here." Runo said with a light glare towards Lincoln as she put her hands on her hips. "I thought your family had their own much _better _restaurant."

Lincoln sweat dropped in response as he rose her hands up. "Now, now Runo, no need for that." Lincoln followed up with a nervous chuckle. "We just figured since two of the Brawlers we're here it would be more convenient for us to hang out here so we could also hang out with you and Alice."

"Well I think that's a great idea." Alice said while looking at Dan with a smart. "We can work and think of plans to deal with Masquerade at the same time."

"Exactly!" Dan said as he snapped his fingers with a smug smile on his face before pointing a thumb at himself. "It was all my idea by the way."

Alice giggled in response with Lincoln and Runo rolling their eyes before the latter pointed a finger at an empty table right next to the door and window. "Well have a seat, Alice can take your order in a sec." The bluette told them before walking off letting Lincoln and Dan sit down.

Lincoln kept his eyes on Runo and once he was confident she was outta earshot, leaned close to Dan over the table and whispered to the Pyrus user. "So why are we here again?" Lincoln asked Dan as though he wasn't opposed to hanging out at Runo's family restaurant with Runo and Alice…he had to admit his dads place had a lot better food. Lincoln felt especially surprised earlier as it was Dan who suggested it.

"Uuuuuh…" Dan slowly let out as he looked placed Lincoln and at Alice as she was taking a table order. Dan's eyes quickly took notice that Runo was wearing a matching white apron to Runo and her hair was done in a ponytail. "…No reason."

Lincoln gained a dead panned look as he let out in a similar tone. "Sure Dan." Lincoln was 99.99% sure his friend was starring at a certain ginger haired girl right now.

"Like your one to talk kid." Suddenly Leonidas had hopped into the table and looked up at Lincoln. "You've recently got your own eye candy of darkness. Isn't that right?"

Lincoln's face quickly went red as he narrowed his eyes at his best friend. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Lincoln said before using a menu to cover his face.

"Oh this I got know." Dan said with a smirk at his friends' expense as he looked at Leonidas. "What's the scoop?"

"Leonidas don't you dar-"

"Haiku." Leonidas immediately answered causing Lincoln to slam his face down on the table in embarrassment. "Lately the kid won't shut up about her. Stays up late texting her. And its easy to tell when he's thinking about her because his face goes red."

"Leonidas…" Lincoln grumbled while still face planted on the table.

"Hahahaha! Seriously?" Dan laughed at his friends' expense with Leonidas joining in. "Man, I had no idea you were into goth chicks."

Lincoln glared at his friend before an idea came to him as a devious smirk came to his face. "Says the guy who's into older women." Lincoln countered causing Dan to stop laughing and freeze.

"Ooooooo!" Leonidas let out as he looked between Lincoln and Dan with amusement. "This just got good!"

"You take far too much pleasure in messing with others." Drago said as he hopped down from Dan's vest pocket and onto the table in front of the Darkus Bakugan.

"Don't knock it till you try it Dragonoid." Leonidas told his fellow Bakugan. "You pull the right strings and you just watch the chaos unfold, hehe."

"Oh Alice~" Lincoln called out causing Dan to go red in the face and wave his hands around to try and stop Lincoln. "Dan has something he wants to tell you~"

"No, no, no, no-Hey Alice!" Dan quickly said as Alice approached his and Lincoln's table with her usual smile on her face.

"What is it Dan?" Alice asked in her usual gentle tone. "You have something you wanna tell me?"

"Uuuuuuuh…" Dan internally panicked while also cursing Lincoln. "Yes! I wanted to say that…I'm ready to order! I'd like a BLT Sandwich with a coke please!"

"Of course." Alice said as she wrote down Dan's order. "And what about you Lincoln?"

"I think I'll have some Ramen Noodles with a Sprite please." Lincoln said with an overly smug smile as he set his menu down.

"You got it." Alice said after writing down Lincoln's order. "Those will be ready for you in a bit." Once Alice was gone, Dan slowly looked towards Lincoln and glared at him.

"You do realize, this means war." Dan told his white-haired friend whose smug smile never left him.

"Challenged accepted Danny boy." Lincoln retallied causing Dan to narrow his eyes even more.

"Heh, humans." Drago commented from the table.

* * *

"**Ability Activate: Sandtrap!**" Currently having a Bakugan Brawl was none other then Lincoln's older sister Lynn Loud Jr. And the person she was brawling against was her best friend and fellow team mate for various sports Margo.

Currently the score was Lynn having 2 Bakugan and Margo on her last one. Lynn was using the Subterra Element and Margo was using Pyrus.

The battlefield was set up with two gate cards, one belonging to Lynn and one belonging to Margo. On Lynn's gate card was a Subterra Bakugan known as Wormquake that resembled a giant earthworm. On Margo's card was a Pyrus Robotallion.

However, thanks to the ability card Lynn played Wormquake proceeded to dig underneath its card and start to emerge from Margo's card. "Robotallion no!" Margo called out as Wormquake struck Margo's Robotallion from below causing it to go back into ball form and land at Margo's feet.

The field was then closed as Lynn caught Wormquake with a smirk of victory on her face as Margo picked up her Bakugan. "Oh well, guess you win again Lynn." Margo said as she put her Bakugan away.

"Darn right I do." Lynn said in a smug tone as she tossed her Bakugan up and down in her hand. Just then she looked around the area where the rest of her teammates/friends were watching them and said. "So, who's next?"

However, all of the Lynn's teammates awkwardly looked around at each other before Paula limped up on her crutch and told Lynn, "Uh, no one." She said causing Lynn's eyes to widen. "You already beat the rest of us Lynn, Margo was the last one."

"Woah, I beat all of you guys already?" Lynn asked as all her team mates nodded, "Wow! I'm better than I thought I was! I bet my rankings gone up a tone!" Lynn then quickly got onto the Bakugan website and went onto the rankings list.

"_Lynn Loud ranked 143 in the world." _The Baku-pod told her as the athlete checked her rank.

Lynn didn't seem to like this however as she frowned. "What? Seriously? Only 143, what a total rip!" The athlete complained as her ranking was still to low for her liking. "Come on, I have to be higher than that. There must be some mistake."

"I doubt that Lynn." Margo said as she walked up to her best friend and put a hand on her back. "There are just people out there better then you, it's no big deal."

Lynn simply scoffed at this. "If you aren't the best at what you do, then what's the point of doing it." The 13-year-old crossed her arms before holding her head up. "I guess I can at least say I'm the best in my family."

"But I thought your little brother and oldest sister were way higher then you in the rankings?" Paula asked causing Lynn's eyes to widen in response. "Aren't they in the top 100 or something?"

"Yeah I just checked." Margo said as she checked her own Baku-pod at the rankings. "Lincoln's ranked 87 and Lori's ranked shot up to 72 recently."

Lynn's eye started twitching in response. She couldn't stand the thought of one of her siblings being better at a game then her. She was the best in her family at any kind of sport…well, except for golf which was Lori's territory but Lynn hardly counted golf as a real sport. But suddenly Bakugan came along and although Lynn was good, Lincoln and Lori just seemed to rise up to the higher ranks incredibly quick along with their group of Battle Brawlers.

"Well…so what if it says they're higher then me in the ranks." Lynn said stubbornly as she crossed her arms. "It doesn't actually mean they're better than me."

"Well…have you actually battled them before?" Margo asked which actually caused Lynn to put a hand on her chin and give it some thought. Has she battled Lincoln or Lori before? She…honestly can't remember actually doing that.

"I…actually haven't." Lynn revealed, surprising her teammates a bit. A grin then came onto the 13-year-olds face as she quickly got an idea in her head. "But that won't last long. See ya later guys! I got something I need to do!" Before any of Lynn's team mates could say anything, they watched their captain run off.

* * *

Back at Runo's family restaurant, Dan and Lincoln were chowing down on the meals they ordered with Dan secretly think of ways he could get back at Lincoln for his little stunt earlier. But as they were eating, Lincoln felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out and saw that he had a text. "What's up?" Dan asked after swallowing of his food.

"Eh, its nothing." Lincoln said as he casually put his phone back in his pocket. "Just Lynn challenging me to a brawl."

"You gonna respond?" Dan asked with a raised brow as he didn't see Lincoln reply to the text after reading it.

"Nah," Lincoln said casually as he leaned back in his seat and took a drink of his soda. "After Marduk, Jenny and Jewls, and those two magician brothers, I kinda wanna take a day off brawling."

"That's rather surprising to hear." Drago commented as usually both him and his own partner couldn't get more excited over the idea of a brawl. Drago then turned to Lincoln's partner and asked. "You to Leonidas?"

"Yeah." Leonidas replied. "Me and Lincoln kinda just wanna have a bro day today. As much as I love beating the crap outta other Bakugan, taking some time to recharge your batteries isn't the worst thing."

Just then Lincoln's phone vibrated again this time with Dan hearing it. "Was that hear again?" Dan asked, assuming it was another text with Lincoln's 13-year-old sister.

"Probably." Lincoln said with a shrug. "She's probably making some sort of threat to get me to come battle her. But I'm not gonna even bother."

"Hey yay to go man." Dan complimented his white-haired friend with a thumbs up. "You've really toughened up recently."

"Yeah well, I guess all this Masquerade business helped me grow my spine a little." Lincoln admitted with a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his head. "Needed to toughen up sooner rather than later."

"Well good for you Lincoln." Runo said as she passed by while holding a tray of drinks for another table. "No offense but you used to be kind of a push over." This statement caused Lincoln to pale out, but he couldn't really deny it.

"Now come on Runo be nice." Alice told the bluette from behind the counter. "Lincoln may not be the…physically strongest, but he makes up for it by having a big heart."

"Thanks Alice." Lincoln told the ginger haired girl with a smile. Just then Lincoln's phone started ringing with the white-head simply rolling his eyes as he checked it and, surprise-surprise, found that it was Lynn calling him. "And…hang up." Lincoln quickly pressed the deny called button before turning back to Runo as he put his phone back in his pocket. "So got any dessert menu's Runo?"

"Coming right up." Runo said as she went to go fetch said item for Lincoln and Dan.

* * *

"WHAT?! COME ON!" Lynn yelled angrily as her call to Lincoln was quickly denied. That meant her brother was looking at her text and call but was ignoring and hanging up on them respectively.

Currently Lynn was hanging out in the front yard of her house and texting her brother to come home and play a game of Bakugan with her. When he didn't respond she sent another text threatening to give him a super noogie if he didn't come. When he didn't even respond to that, she was planning on calling him and give him a good yelling to come home and challenge her, but two rings in, he denied her call.

Needless to say, Lynn was pretty ticked off at all this. "Just wait till he gets home…" Lynn growled through her teeth as she stomped inside the house. She was inside she quickly stomped off the stairs and was planning on going up to her room to work out some of her anger…literally with some weights.

But on her way, she ended up bumping into someone causing her to stagger back a bit. "Hey watch it!" Lynn yelled as she was already in a bad mood already from Lincoln ignoring her challenge, the last thing she needed was another on her siblings getting on her nerves.

"Well someone's literally acting like a Grouse today." Looking up, Lynn looked up and saw that it was her oldest sister Lori that she bumped into looking quite annoyed at her, not for bumping into her but for the way Lynn talked to her. Even going as far as to use their neighbors name as an insult.

"I HEARD THAT LOUDS!" The two girls heard said neighbor yell from next door. "STOP USING MY NAME AS AN INSULT!"

Both Louds looked at each other nervously, wondering how exactly Mr. Grouse heard em, but decided to think about it later as Lori narrowed her eyes at Lynn and crossed her arms. "Alright spill it." Lori told the young athlete. "What's egging you."

Lynn simply huffed and averted her eyes away from her eldest sibling. "Its Stinkcoln." Lynn stated causing Lori to raise an eyebrow in curiosity while also frown at the nickname Lynn used for her little brother. "I told him to come home and face me in a Brawl but he's totally dissing me, talk about a coward."

"Now Lynn, that's no way to speak about your brother." Hopping onto Lori shoulder was the 17-year-olds partner Chrysopeon, scolding Lynn for how she was acting. "If you must know Lincoln and Leonidas are taking the day off battling."

"What?" Lynn let out in a surprise tone.

"She's right." Lori confirmed with a nod. "You need to chill out Lynn, Lincoln doesn't just wanna battle 24/7."

"Pfft, sounds like loser talk to me." Lynn stated causing Lori to once again frown at her younger sister. "You take time off you get soft."

"But rest is important." Chrysopeon pointed out as she floated a bit down off Lori's shoulder. "You push yourself to hard and you burn yourself out and do nothing but hurt yourself."

"No pain, no game." Lynn said adamantly causing Lori to groan and roll her eyes. "Although if this keeps up with Lincoln, I'll pass him on the leader boards in no time." However, as soon as Lynn said this the sound of laughter soon hit her ears as she looked to see Lori actually laughing in response to what she said causing the athlete to glare at the 17-year-old. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing much." Lori said with a rather sly smirk on her face. "Its just you think you could actually beat him in Bakugan."

"I CAN BEAT HIM!" Lynn quickly snapped as she tried her best to get into Lori's face despite the height different between the two. "He's not so tough!"

"Look Lynn, I'm gonna be real with ya." Lori told the athlete in a calm tone. Thanks to Chrysopeon helping her out with some anger problems she still sorta had, she's been getting better and talking to other, especially her family, in a calm and rational tone. "I've seen you battle, and I've seen Lincoln battle plenty of times. Comparing you two…there's honestly no contest in which who's better. Sorry Lynn but Lincoln completely out classes you."

"Oh really?!" Lynn yelled with irritation in her voice as hearing what her older sister was saying about her. Just then Lynn pulled out her field card and got in a battle-ready pose. "How about we have a battle ourselves and see if your words hold as much weight as that butt of yours.

Lori's eyes snapped opened at Lynn's commented as she looked to see Lynn giving her a mix of a smug and cocky grin. Lori slowly glared down at her little sister and pulled out her own field card. "I'm literally going to destroy you for that." The oldest sister said in a dark tone.

A few minutes later, Lori and Lynn were standing across each other in the backyard. The two didn't spare any words as they rose up their field cards. "**Field Open!**" With Lori's card growing green and Lynn's glowing brown, the Bakugan field opened around them.

"Alright Lynn, let me show you how we do it in the big leagues." Lori said with narrowed eyes as she and Lynn pulled out their gate cards.

"**Gate Card set!**" Both siblings said in unison as they through their gate cards across from each other on the field.

"Ha, get ready to see how this game is played." Lynn said as she pulled out a Subterra Bakugan from her pocket. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lynn then threw the Bakugan towards her own gate card. "Subterra Hynoid stand!" Standing onto Lynn's gate card was a Hyena-like Bakugan that got on all fours and clearly was ready to battle.

"Time to lock and load." Lori said as she equipped her launcher and loaded it up with a Ventus Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot out her Bakugan towards Lynn's gate card. "Ventus El Conder Stand!" Now floating above the gate card was a Bakugan that resembled a shaman with the appearance of a Mayan Totem

"Big mistake getting on my card Lori!" Lynn said with a smirk as she rose her hand in the air. "**Gate Card Open: Energy Merge!**" The gate card then opened with energy transferring from El Condor to Hynoid.

"Eat it Lori. Now 100 G's of power are going to be taken from your Bakugan and onto mine!" Lynn gloated as Hynoid went up to 450 G's and El Conder went down to 240 G's. "Now sick em Hynoid!"

Hynoid howled before charging at El Conder on all fours, ready to take out the Bakugan. Lori, however, wasn't intimidate in the least as she pulled out an ability card. "This is literally to easy. **Ability Activate: Solar Plexus!**" El Condor's eyes then started to glow as two rays of sunlight came out of them and onto the gate card. Once the rays of light hit the card, it suddenly stopped glowing and power downed.

"What?! What happened?" Lynn asked as she checked her Baku-pod. "Why is Hynoids power level dropping again?"

"_1-0-0 G's of power returning to Ventus El Conder. Hynoid power decrease by 5-0 G's." _The Baku-pod said as it showed the effect of the gate card being nullified with El Conder going back up to 340 G's and Hynoid going down to 350 G's and then decreasing further by 50 G's.

"Solar Plexus is an ability that nullifies any gate card and then drops 50 G's of my opponents power level." Lori explained with a confident expression on her face. "Meaning I literally broke apart you whole plan." El Conder then charged a Hynoid head first causing the Subterra Bakugan to go back to ball form and land on Lynn's face.

Lynn's face went red a bit with anger as she growled while El Conder returned to ball form and was sent back to Lori's hand. "Like I said Lynn, you're out of your league." Lori said before pulling out another gate card. "**Gate Card set!**" Lori then threw her new gate card where Lynn's card originally was.

Lori then took her partner into her hand and looked down at her with a smile. "Will you help me out here Chrysopeon?" Lori asked with a kind smile.

"Of course dearie." The Ventus Lamia reassured the 17-year-old as she closed up. "I'm always here for you."

Lori nodded in response with a grateful smile on her face as she loaded up Chrysopeon into her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot out her Bakugan towards her second gate card. "Chrysopeon Stand!" With a green tornado appearing, Chrysopeon came into battle and floated a few dozen feet above her gate card.

"Hmph, I'm not scared of some oversized snake!" Lynn said as she looked up at Chrysopeon.

"You need to learn some manners young lady!" Chrysopeon scolded the athlete.

"Please, how about I introduce you to someone I like to call Rattleoid!" Lynn said as she grabbed a Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl! Bakugan Stand!" Now landing on the gate card Chrysopeon was on, a giant Rattlesnake-like Bakugan appeared. This was Subterra Rattleoid. "Alright Rattleoid lets bring the pain! **Ability Activate: Poison Fang!**"

Rattleoid then opened its mouth wide, baring its fangs, before lunging up at Chrysopeon and-

"**Ability Activate!**" Lori acted quick and proceeded to throw an ability card towards Rattleoid. "**Blow Away!**"

A green tornado then covered Rattleoid before it could bite Chrysopeon and blew the Rattlesnake Bakugan over to Lori's original gate card. "Hey! Stop running and start brawling already!" Lynn yelled in irritation towards Lori's move. "What are you running away or something!?"

"And that's literally your problem Lynn." Lori pointed out to Lynn taking the athlete back a bit. "You don't stop to consider what your opponent has up their sleeves and don't strategize or adapt to how things play out. You rely on nothing but pure power and when things get bad you let your anger get the better of you. And with a game like Bakugan, keeping a straight head is everything."

Lori then loaded up her launcher with another Bakugan. "Now allow me to prove that to you! Bakugan Brawl!" Lori then shot out her Bakugan towards her original gate card. "Siege Stand!" With a bright green glow, Lori's Siege entered battle at 340 G's.

"What's she planning?" Lynn asked herself as she checked her Baku-pod and saw that Rattleoid matched Siege's power level.

"**Gate Card open: Quartet Battle!**" The gate card Chrysopeon glowed as it was activated and suddenly, without Lori or Lynn's control, a Bakugan on each of their sides floated up and shot themselves towards the Quartet battle card with Lori's El Condor joining Chrysopeon and Lynn's Wormquake facing against both of them.

"N-No!" Lynn stuttered as a look of worry came to her face. "That's two against one! That's not fair! Why can't you fight like a man Lori!"

"All is fair in love and war Lynn." Lori told her younger sister with crossed arms. "If you can't handle this then why did you challenge me in the first place?" Once Lori was done talking to Lynn, she looked up at her partner Bakugan. "You ready Chrysopeon?"

"But of course, sweetie." The Lamia Bakugan said with a nod as she cleared her throat and began to sing her beautiful song.

"What? Why's she singing?" Lynn asked with confusion as Lori had failed to inform her siblings other then Lincoln about one of Chrysopeon's special traits.

Chrysopeon continued to sing as Lynn saw that the Ventus Bakugan suddenly began to glow. Chrysopeon's hair changed to pig-tails and her colors changed from green and purple to yellow and white. "Behold!" Chrysopeon said as she finished singing. "Haos Chrysopeon!"

"WHAT?!" Lynn yelled with disbelief as she saw the Lami Bakugan change from Ventus to Haos. "THAT'S…THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Sorry but its far from impossible." Lori said as she pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Ventus and Haos combine!**" Chrysopeon and Siege then glowed yellow and green respectively as their power levels both increased by 100. "Alright then, lets finish this!"

"Glady!" Chrysopeon said as she and El Conder charged at Wormquake with Siege readying its weapon and charging at Rattleoid.

"Rattleoid! Wormquake!" Lynn called out to her Bakugan as both of them were struck at the same time by the opponents they were facing and-

The field closed as both of Lynn's Bakugan fell to her feet. Lori then caught all of her Bakugan in her hand, with Chrysopeon going to her shoulder. "You see what I was trying to tell you Lynn?" Lori asked her younger sister who was simply staring down at her Bakugan on the ground. "You constantly underestimate your opponents because you think you're automatically the best at everything. Well thinking like that will cease your ability to improve and grow. You have to accept that there is and will always be other better than you."

"Better yet, how about you stop caring about winning so much. Winning isn't everything despite what you believe. You literally should just focus on having fun, its not the end of the world if you lose. It just gives you a reason to practice and get better. I had to learn this myself."

"…" Lynn didn't say anything in response. She just kept staring at the ground her fallen Bakugan.

Lori simply sighed in response at her little sister's silence. "Just think about it alright?" Lori said to the young athlete. "Its time for my video chat with Bobby, I'll talk to you later Lynn."

Once Lori started walking away, Chrysopeon turned to face Lori and said. "I do hope she'll be alright." The Lamia Bakugan said in a worried tone.

"Yeah, same here Chrysopeon." Lori agreed…failing to notice Lynn tightening her fist as Lori left.

* * *

A little later in the day Lynn could be see walking through the park. A look of anger on her face as she stomped through the area with her hands in her pockets. Lori's words were stuck in her head and all they did was make her even more frustrated.

"_Winning isn't everything.' _What a bunch of bull crap." Lynn grumbled to herself as she punched a tree, she passed in order to let out a bit of her anger. "If you don't win, you lose. If you lose, that makes you a loser. And if you're a loser, then you're absolutely nothing!" Lynn then gritted her teeth as stop at the next tree she passed by and started rapidly punching it. "WHY! CAN'T ANY! OF! THESE! IDOITS! UNDERSTAND THAT!?"

"_Oh, I understand perfectly Lynn._"

Lynn stopped punching as the echoey voice hit her ears. Her anger seemed to be replaced by a chilling breeze that caused her whole body to shiver. Looking up at the source…Lynn saw none other then the masked Brawler himself. "I'm guessing…you know who I am?"

"You're…Masquerade." Lynn said with widened eyes as she watched Masquerade stand up on the branch and backflip down and land behind Lynn. "You're the number one Brawler in the world!"

"Hmph, guilty as charged." Masquerade responded with a smirk as he looked down at Lynn. "I happened to have heard what you just said."

Lynn's eyes quickly widened as an embarrassed blush came to her face. She just let all of that out in front of the best Bakugan Brawler in the world. "O-Oh…you…saw all that huh?" Lynn asked with an embarrassed chuckle.

Masquerade simply smirked again as he put a hand on Lynn's shoulder. "Walk with me Lynn." The number one Brawler told the athlete causing Lynn to tilt her head in confusion.

A few minutes later, Masquerade and Lynn were walking side by side across the park while having a conversation. "So, if I heard you correctly you said that people who don't win are losers, and loser are nobodies?" Masquerade asked, not even looking at the 13-year-old as he knew she was right by his side.

"Well…yeah." Lynn said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean what's the point of doing something if you aren't the best! Showing everyone that you're better than them!"

"You know something Lynn, I completely agree with you." Masquerade told the athlete causing Lynn to gain a surprised expression.

"R-Really?" Lynn stuttered at the fact that the best Bakugan Brawler in the world agreeing with her.

"Totally." Masquerade confirmed as he patted Lynn on the shoulder. "The whole point of any sort of competition is to crush your opponent. Show no mercy. If you can't do that, then why even bother. You just wasted your time, and no ones gonna care about a loser."

"Exactly!" Lynn let out as she rose both of her hands into the air. "Why can't more people get that! You gotta show you're the best! Nothing else matters!"

"People are just soft wimps now-a-days." Masquerade said as he and Lynn stopped walking once they reached the middle of the park where the fountain was. "They think life is just one big participation award."

"Aka a pathetic loser award." Lynn said with a joking grin.

This got a bit of a chuckle out of Masquerade as he nodded his head in approval. "Couldn't have said it better myself." Masquerade said as he and Lynn did a quick fist bump. "That's why I like you Lynn. You and me, we know how the world really works. How you need to prove to everyone that you're the best, and crush and destroy everyone in your way. That's why…I decided to take you under my wing."

"Woah, woah, woah, are you serious?!" Lynn asked with sparkles in her eyes. The number one Bakugan player in the world wanted to teach her!? Best. Day. Ever!

"I wouldn't say it if I wasn't." Masquerade reassured the athlete with another smirk. "The first thing we need to work on is…your stradegy."

"My stradegy?" Lynn asked with confusion in her voice.

"Yes, your ranking is rather high, but it won't go any higher if you keep battling the way your battling." Masquerade told the 13-year-old Loud child as he crossed his arms and looked down at Lynn. "You use brawn and hardly any brains."

"Hey!" Lynn said with offense taken. But just then she realized exactly what Masquerade said and she rose and eyebrow. "Wait, how do you know how I battle?"

Masquerade chuckled in response as he said. "I have my sources, and I have eyes and ears in various places." Just then Masquerade reached into his pocket as he kept speaking. "While brawn is a good thing to have, using only it makes you predictable. And a predictable opponent is a dead opponent."

"So, I should try and change things up?" Lynn asked as she mentally wrote down everything Masquerade told her. "Maybe some of what Lori said wasn't just nonsense."

"Here, I have something what should help with that?" Masquerade then pulled his hand out of his pocket and held up to Lynn…the Doom Card. "Use this and everything should come to you."

"Woah, looks like something Lucy would use." Lynn commented over the creepy looking card and how it sent shivers down her spin. But she wasn't about to turn down help for Masquerade himself…so she took the card from his hand.

Suddenly Lynn's eyes widened as simply holding the card seemed to change her entire outlook on Bakugan. As if it told her all she needed to know about how to crush her opponents into oblivion. "So…how do you feel?" Masquerade asked with devilish smirk, already knowing the card's negative energy was working its magic on Lincoln's sister.

"I feel…like I wanna crush someone in battle." Lynn said in a surprising dark tone as a mad grin came to her face.

Suddenly the sound of laughter hit Masquerade and Lynn's ears as they both looked to see a group of kids about Lincoln and Dan's age, all of them with Bakugan in their hands. "So, Lynn…how does some target practice sound?" Masquerade asked the athlete girl beside him.

Lynn didn't respond, and simply walked up to the group of kids, fully intent on showing them what she's made of and more.

* * *

"Hey Runo, where'd Alice go?" Dan asked as he and Lincoln had finished their meals and dessert a while ago and were simply ranging out the restaurant talking about various stuff with Runo occasionally joining in when she was able.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Runo said to the Pyrus user with a raised brow. "She went out for groceries about a 45 minutes ago."

"Huh, I didn't even see her leave." Lincoln said with a shrug. Guess he and Dan were too busy talking to notice the ginger haired girl leave.

"Ah well, I was hoping to say bye." Dan said as he got up from his table and stretched out a bit. "I gotta get going, tell Alice I'll see her later."

"Sure thing." Runo said as she got behind the counter. "See ya later Dan."

"Alright, you coming Linc?" Dan asked his white-haired friend who seemed to be looking out the big window of the restaurant, simply starring into space. "Uuum, Lincoln?"

"Kid, you ok?" Leonidas asked his partner who was simply continuing to stare out into space. "YO! KID!"

This finally snapped Lincoln back into reality as he looked at Dan and Leonidas. "Sorry, did you guys say something?" Lincoln asked causing Dan to sweat drop.

"You seemed spaced out." Drago said from Dan's shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

"…" Lincoln was silent at first and simply looked back out the window. A few black clouds were suddenly coming into the sky. "I…I don't know. Something feels wrong."

* * *

Back at the back, the group of kids that were there all had looks of fear on their faces. Each one of them battled Lynn…and were utterly wiped out and had to watch their Bakugan be sent to the Doom Dimension.

Lynn herself had her newly acquired Doom Card in hand and had just caught on of her Subterra Bakugan in her hand. Lynn gave an evil grin as she looked at all the kids in front of her. "So…who's next? Oh wait, I already took out all you Bakugan." Lynn said in a mocking tone causing all the kids to run away screaming.

Lynn then heard some clapping behind her and looked to see Masquerade slowly applauding her. "Good. Very good." Masquerade complimented her as he approached the athlete. "You learn fast."

"Well what did you expect?" Lynn said in a cocky and confident tone.

Masquerade chuckles in response as a smirk came to her face. "Nothing less. Now, since I helped you out, I need a favor. Just something small." Masquerade told the athlete causing her to raise a brow in interest. "Your brother Lincoln and sister Lori, they have been…huge thorns in my side for quite a while now. If you could get them outta my way…I would really appreciate. And if you do a good enough job, I think you might see you ranking shoot up high. Top 50 even."

Lynn's eyes widened in response at Masquerades offer. Top 50? No way she could pass that up! "You can count on me." Lynn told the masked Brawler, who nodded in approval.

"Good." Masquerade said, his grin still on his face. "Now I better head out. I'm a rather busy man after all, but I expect to hear good things."

Lynn simply nodded before walking away from Masquerade with said brawler heading in the opposite direction of Lynn. "Do you really think she'll be able to succeed?" Hopping onto Masquerade's shoulder was Reaper. "Can she really defeat them?"

"Hmph, maybe she'll get a few of their Bakugan, but actually beating them…no chance." Masquerade said as a mad grin came to his face. "Honestly exploiting her and getting her hopes up, its was easier then taking candy from a baby. But consider she's one of Lincoln and Lori's sister, no doubt this is gonna get under their skin. Show them I'm not messing around."

* * *

"Ya know, I'm surprised it hasn't rained." Lincoln commented as he and Leonidas approached the Loud House. "These clouds are getting bad."

"Let's just get inside and not push our luck." Leonidas told his partner as he looked up at the sky. "I don't like getting wet."

"Alright, alright, I'm going in." Lincoln told his partner with an eyeroll as he entered the house. Once inside, he only saw his older sister Leni sitting on the couch. "Hey Leni, what's up?"

"Oh, welcome home Linky." Leni greeted her little brother with her usual big and sweet smile. "Nothing much, just watching some fashion programs." Lincoln simply smiled and nodded and started heading up stairs, but stopped when Leni spoke up again. "Hey, do you, like, know what's up with Lynn?"

"Huh?" Lincoln hummed in interested at his sisters' question. "What about Lynn?"

"I don't know, but when she came home something seemed…off about her." Leni explained as an uncomfortable look came to her face. "It was kinda…creepy."

"Hmmm, I bet she's just butt hurt I wouldn't battle her today." Lincoln assumed with a shrug, knowing how Lynn can get in some circumstances. "She challenged me to a Bakugan Brawl but I ignored her, wanted the day off. She just has to deal with it."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Leni quickly gained her smile back, satisfied with her answer as she got up from the couch. "Now if you excuse me, I have something important to do."

"What's that?" Leonidas asked the ditzy blond.

"I'm finally gonna catch that little elf that turns the light on when we open the fridge!" Leni said as she suddenly pulled out a tiny little net. "He won't get away this time!"

Both Lincoln and Leonidas sweat dropped in response as they watched Leni walk into the kitchen. "And to think," Leonidas began saying. "They wasted such a great name like Dumbo on an elephant."

* * *

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

The final bell rung at the Royal Woods elementary school, signaling the end of the day for everyone. The school's quickly gather their things and eagerly leave the school, ready to go home. "I still don't get why we gotta know all this stuff." Dan complained as he held up some math homework. "I mean unless you're gonna teach the stuff, when is this ever gonna come up in a real-life scenario?"

"You got me there." Lincoln said with a shrug, kinda agreeing with Dan on that aspect. "But, might as well just get through it so Mrs. Johnson doesn't get on our case about it."

The two friends then exited the school and after a few minutes of walking away from the learning place, "LINCOLN! LINCOLN WAIT!" Lincoln and Dan stopped as they heard the formers name being called. Looking to the source, they saw none other then Margo running up to them with a bit of a panicked expression on his face.

"Woah where's the fire?" Dan asked as they both turned to Margo as the girl stopped in front of them.

"What's wrong…Margo is it?" Lincoln asked, thinking a bit to remember the name of Lynn's best friend. "Is something up?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Margo said as she caught her breath. "Your sister, Lynn I mean, she's…not acting right."

"…Is it her time of the month?" Leonidas asked causing Margo to go bright red and for Lincoln and Dan to simply looked confused.

"NO! No! Not that!" Margo quickly shook her head and hands at the Darkus Bakugan's statement. "I mean…she's acting nasty! Mean, merciless, and just plain cruel. Especially when it comes to Bakugan."

That last word got Lincoln and Dan's attention causing them to look at each other with widened eyes. "I got a bad feeling about this." Drago said as he had an assumption of what was happening.

"So, what do you need me for exactly?" Lincoln asked as now his interest and worries were peaked.

"I was hoping you could come with me and help snap some sense into her." Margo explained to the Loud boy who nodded in response. "You're her brother and one of the best players so I thought you could help get to the bottom of this and get her back to her old self."

Lincoln didn't even need to think before he quickly nodded and turned to Dan. "Mind giving me some back up?" Lincoln asked his Pyrus using friend.

"You got it!" Dan said before he and Lincoln took off, following Margo to where Lynn was.

After about a 10-minute walk, Margo led the two boys to the Royal Woods middle/high school parking lot. "Ok, she should be around her somewhere…I hope." Margo said with a gulp, hoping that Lynn didn't leave while she went to go get Lincoln and Dan.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for them to find who they were looking for.

"Well, look who finally decided to show their face."

Lincoln, Dan, and Margo turned around to see Lynn leaning by her shoulder against a lamp post in the parking lot, her back turned to everyone. Lincoln quickly narrowed his eyes at his sister and took a step forward. "Alright Lynn, you got some explaining to do!" Lincoln raised his voice at his sister. "What's this your friend Margo has been telling us how you've been acting!"

"And what's this got to do with Bakugan?!" Dan quickly added on as he rose his fist. "You better start talking!"

Lynn was silent for a moment before she started chuckling as she turned her head so one of her eyes was just barely peaking at the group behind. "I just need to get my wimpy little brother's attention so he'd finally crawl out from his rock and face me like a man." Lynn said causing Lincoln to glare at the athlete and tighten his fist. "So what do you say Stinkcoln?" Lynn then slowly brought up a hand that was holding a card with its back face to Lincoln. "Up for a challenge?"

Lynn then turned the card around to reveal to everyone that she had the Doom Card.

Lincoln froze in shock as his eyes widened and his pupil's slightly dilated. His sister…was holding the Doom Card. She…was working with Masquerade. His eyes shakenly moved down to her other arm and saw she had a Subterra Masquerade launcher on her wrist.

Dan was in a similar state to his white-haired friend but was slightly in more control of himself. "Lincoln…why does your sister have the Doom Card?!" Dan yelled as Lynn gave a more wicked Grin that caused Margo to tremble a little bit.

"Lynn…" Lincoln managed to let out as his fist were tightened enough that his hands started paling out a bit. "You didn't…"

"What's wrong Stinkoln?" Lynn said in a cocky and mocking tone as she turned around and started walking towards her brother. "Afraid? Well you should be. I ran into Masquerade the other day and he gave me some pointers and a few new toys to help me out. He also said that you've been bothering him and placed it on me to show you your place."

"Idiot!" Dan yelled as he stomped his foot on the ground and gritted his teeth towards Lynn. "Don't you know Masquerade playing you for a sucker?! Do you even know what that card does?!"

"Pfft, yeah, and who cares." Lynn waved off causing Dan and Lincoln to gasp. "This is just a game, who cares if a few _toys _get destroyed in the process."

"Lynn…" Lincoln tried reaching out to his corrupted sister. "You don't get it. There's much more to this than that."

"Don't bother Lincoln, look at her." Leonidas told Lincoln as he made the boy completely look over his sister. "Negative energy has got a strong hold on her. She's too far gone to simply talk to. We're gonna have to beat some sense into her."

"…You're right." Lincoln said as Leonidas's words and presence almost instantly gave him the strength he need. Lincoln then gave Lynn a harsh look that actually surprised her a bit as he equipped his own launcher. "Lynn…you've done some down right stupid and crazy things before…but you crossed the line this time."

"Yeah! Let's do this!" Dan said as he pulled out his field card. "Come on Linc, let's double team her."

"No Dan." Lincoln immediately said afterward, surprising Dan. "Lynn's my sister. I need to do this. Alone."

Dan was taken slightly back by this as he and Drago looked to each other. Normally Dan would complain about not being able to Brawl, but in this situation…he understood. "Yeah ok." Dan said with a nodded as he took a few steps back. "Kick her butt man."

"Good luck Lincoln." Drago said to Lincoln.

Lincoln nodded at his words as he pulled out his field card. "Alright Lynn, you want me, now come and get me. But I warn you, I don't care if you're my sister right now. You're working with Masquerade, and that makes you my enemy. So, I plan on showing you no mercy!"

"Stop the poetry and let's do this already!" Lynn said aggressively as she pulled out her own field card.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" Both said in unison as Lincoln's card glowed purple and Lynn's glowed orange as the Bakugan field opened around them.

"**Doom Card set!**" Lynn then let her Doom Card fall onto the field, spreading the purple Doom Energy throughout the field.

"Get ready Lynn." Lincoln said in a serious tone as he pulled out a gate card. "I'm about to show you how weak you really are."

"Dream on loser!" Lynn said as she pulled out her own gate card.

"**Gate Card set!**" Lynn and Lincoln said in unison as they threw their gate cards across from each other letting them expand.

"**Gate Card set!**" Lincoln's first move as placing down another gate card to the right of his original gate card that he threw down. "Alright, let's do this quickly." Lincoln then loaded up a Darkus Bakugan into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln shot his Bakugan towards his first gate card. "Darkus Mantris stand!"

Lynn wasn't at all impressed as she watched her brothers Darkus Mantris come onto the field. Checking her Baku-pod, Lynn saw that the Darkus Bakugan was at 360 G's. "Please, I can trump that in my sleep!" Lynn said in a cocky tone as she loaded up a Subterra Bakugan into her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl! Subterra Manion stand!" Aiming it at Mantris's card, Lynn released a Bakugan that Spinx-like Bakugan with large wings on its back.

"_Manion enters battle at 3-6-0 G's." _The Baku-pod said as it showed Mantris and Manion at equal power levels.

"And now to crush that bug." Lynn said in a cocky tone as she brought out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Egyptian Chaos!**" Brown rays then shot out of Manion eyes and shined down at Mantris who seemed to be screeching in pain. "Egyptian Chaos is an ability that takes away 50 G's of my opponents power level while raising Manions power by 100."

Raising an eyebrow, Lincoln checked his Bakugan and saw Manion go up to 460 G's and Mantris decrease to 310 G's. But Lincoln's serious expression never left his face as he stood strong and unbreaking. "Nice move, but watch and learn sis." Lincoln said as he pulled out his own card. "**Ability Activate: Marionette!**"

Mantris's eyes then glowed as string-like tendrils came out of Mantris's fore-legs and wrapped themselves around Manion and lifted the Bakugan up and dropped it down on Lincoln's second gate card. "Pain in my ass…" Lynn grumbled as Manion was set down on another card. "You're just as bad as Lori! To afraid to fight huh?"

"Its called stradegy Lynn, try it sometime!" Lincoln yelled as he loaded up his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then shot out this Bakugan at his second gate card. "Fear-Ripper stand!" Lincoln ever loyal Fear-Ripper then faced down Manion at 290 G's. Which simply made Lynn laugh as her Manion was still at 460 G's. "What so funny? I'm still waiting for you to kick my butt Lynn? Or you just all talk?"

This got Lynn to stop laughing and to glare at her brother and load up her launcher. "Well if you want a beating so bad, I'll give it to you! Bakugan Brawl!" Lynn then shot out her Bakugan towards Lincoln's original card that still had Mantris on it. "Centipoid Stand!"

Once the centipede Bakugan was unleashed, Lincoln looked at his Bakugan and saw it stood at 340 G's, 30 ahead of Mantris. "And now this is where you lose." Lynn said as she pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Earth Power!**" Centipoid then glowed with Subterra energy as the Baku-pod showed the Bakugan increasing to 390 G's.

"I think I'll start with your Fear-Ripper." Lynn said with a completely mad grin on her face. "Do it Manion! Send him to the Doom Dimension! There's no way he can raise his power level high enough to beat you!"

Manion let out a bird-like cry as it started dive bombing towards Fear-Ripper. "You're right, I can't raise his power level high enough, so I think I'll do this instead." Lincoln said as he held his arm out, making Lynn raise an eyebrow a little bit. "**Gate Card open: Joker's Wild!**" Lincoln's gate card then glowed when suddenly an explosion occurred on Manion half of the gate card. The force blew Lynn back a bit and before the athlete knew it, she saw Manion in ball form emerging from the dust and landing at her feet. Defeated.

"WHAT?!" Lynn yelled in shock. "HOW?! My power level was so much higher!"

"That's the Jokers Wild command card." Lincoln explained as Fear-Ripper surprising didn't go back to ball form. "It's a card that instantly defeats any non-Darkus Bakugan. And, an added bonus, after the cards been activated, I can choose whenever I want whether to keep Fear-Ripper on the field or call him back to my hand." Lynn growled in response, thinking that her brother was using cheap trick to win, as he spoke up again. "I told you I wasn't showing mercy Lynn. We can stop this right now. Save yourself the embarrassment. You're on my turf now!"

"Forget it!" Lynn immediately snapped in response. "I _will _prove I'm the best!"

Lincoln simply let out a 'hmph' in response as he shook his head in disappointment. "The only thing you're doing is showing how desperate you are!" Lincoln claimed loudly. "Resorting to working for Masquerade. You're pathetic!"

Lynn's face went red with anger as she looked up at Centipoid and quickly ordered the Bakugan. "CENTIPOID! NOW! KILL THAT STUPID MANTIS!" Centipoid roared in response as it charged at the Darkus Mantris.

"**Gate Card open!**" Lincoln quickly yelled with his hand held out. "**Pyrus Hazard!**" Suddenly red energy came out of the gate card and suddenly Mantris and Centipoid's colors changed to that of the Pyrus Attribute. "Hazard is a command card that changes all Bakugan on the card to any attribute I want. So that means you can't use any of your Subterra abilities."

"_Centipoid power decrease by 5-0 G's._" The Baku-pod said as it showed the effects of the Subterra ability Earth Power being lost due to the change from earth to fire.

However, Lynn simply grinned in response and let out a cocky chuckle. "That means you can't use your Darkus abilities either!" Lynn told her little brother as she still saw her Bakugan was at a higher power level. "And thanks to Manion my Centipoid is still higher! So, do it Centipoid!"

Centipoid roared as it charged once more, but Lincoln's expression continued to be unchanging as he pulled out an ability card. "Maybe not, but a good Brawler always saves their ace." Lincoln informed her sister as he rose the card up higher. "**Ability Activate: Pyrus and Darkus link up!**"

"_Mantris power increase by 1-0-0 G's." _The Baku-pod said as Mantris and Fear-Ripper both started glowing. Lynn's eyes widened in panic as Mantris increase in power to 410 G's and could do nothing but watch as Mantris roared and slashed at Centipoid causing the Bakugan to glowed and go back to ball form and fall at Lynn's feet.

"N-No way…" Lynn said with a trembling voice as she watched another one of her Bakugan be defeated with Lincoln's Mantris and Fear-Ripper going back to ball form themselves and Lincoln catching them in his hand with the gate cards they were on disappearing. "How?! After all my work?! I should be crushing you!"

"It doesn't matter how much work you put in Lynn." Lincoln claimed as he put Fear-Ripper and Mantris back in his Bakugan holder. "You can't beat me! That's a fact!" Lincoln looked his older sister dead in the eye as he went on. "You have a constant need to show off to other people and prove how good you are at any cost. Your inferiority complex shows itself clear as day. Meanwhile I stopped caring what people thought of me long ago. When I do something, I do for me and for those who have my back. That's the difference between you and I. You have you have to show you're the best while I _know_ I'm the best!"

"Just! Shut! UP!" Lynn roared as she loaded up her last Bakugan. "You don't know anything! I'm the one that wins at everything! Sports! Game nights! Everything! Everyone knows I'm the best!"

"Is that so?" Lincoln asked as a smug grin came to his face. "You know there's more to life then winning. Even when I lose a brawl, I still enjoy myself. I prefer to just have fun. So long as I keep that and the friends I have, I'll always come out a winner." Lincoln's serious face then came back as he looked Lynn in the eyes. "Once again you simply rub your victories in everyone's faces. Theirs a big difference in showing your best and knowing you're the best. You show others, but you don't know it yourself. It's honestly quite sad."

"THAT'S IT! BAKUGAN BRAWL!" Lynn finally snapped as she shot out her last bakugan.

"Looks like ya touched a nerve." Leonidas said with a laugh as Lincoln simply smirked.

"WORMQUAKE STAND!" Lincoln then watched as Lynn's Wormquake buried parts of itself into the ground and stood onto battle at 350 G's.

"Ready to wrap this up Leonidas?" Lincoln asked his partner.

"Let's beat her good." Leonidas instantly agreed as Lincoln loaded his partner into his shooter.

"Sounds good, Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then shot out Leonidas towards Wormquake and its card. "Leonidas Stand!"

"Get ready to cry!" Leonidas roared as it gave Wormquake a deadly glare.

"In your dreams!" Lynn yelled as she held her hand out. "**Gate Card open: Character!**" Lynn's gate card then opened to reveal itself to be a Wormquake character card, doubling said Bakugan's power level to 700 G's. "Wormquake! NOW!"

Wormquake roared as it charged at Leonidas at full speed with the intent on sending the Darkus Bakugan to the Doom Dimension…only to be stopped.

"WHAT?! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" Lynn yelled as Leonidas was holding back Wormquake with practically no effort.

"Is this the best you got!? Don't make me laugh!" Leonidas yelled as he took one of his hands off Wormquake and used it to give a hook to the Subterra Bakugan, sending it to the ground.

"H-H-How…" Lynn stuttered as actual fear as she looked up at the Darkus Bakugan. Just then the athletes eyes widened as she slowly turned to her brother and flinched when she saw him giving her the fiercest glare she's honestly ever seen with his body covered in an aura of Darkus energy that was soon shared by Leonidas.

"I know I'm the best Lynn." Lincoln told his sister in a deadly serious tone. "I have nothing but the upmost confidence in myself and my Bakugan. I couldn't care less what you or anyone else thinks of me. What matters is that I know for fact that I have the skills to take on anything that comes my way! As for you, you're finished."

Lynn squeaked in response. She felt fear…over her brother. She was trembling and breathing heavily just from his words and the sudden dark power he and his partner radiated.

"_Power surge detected."_ Snapping Lynn out of it was her Baku-pod which was suddenly beeping, alerting her of something. When she checked it…her jaw dropped. "_Leonidas at 7-5-0 G's."_

"H-H-H-He's not even u-u-using an a-a-a-ability card…" Lynn let out in a trembling tone. "H-How does he have this power?"

"TAKE THIS!" Leonidas then unleashed a massive uppercut that sent Wormquake high into the air. The earth worm Bakugan then started to fall directly at Lynn. The Athlete screamed in terror, afraid the falling Bakugan was going to squish her, but only felt a tiny dink on her head as Wormquake fell on her in ball form.

Lynn let out a sigh of relief but quickly flinched to see both her brother and Leonidas glaring at her. "It's over Lynn. You lose." Lincoln said as his Darkus aura was still present as the field started to glow and-

"So I'm guessing…you won?" Dan asked as he saw Lynn looking down in shame with Lincoln still looking at her with Leonidas on his shoulder.

Lincoln didn't respond to Dan's question and simply continued looking at Lynn with narrowed eyes. "Lynn, look at me." Lynn flinched when her brother talked to her. "Now!"

Lynn whimpered a bit in response as she slowly looked up at her brother. "I guess…you must hate me now?" Lynn asked, fearing the worst for working for her brother sworn enemy.

Lincoln crossed his arms and lowered his head before speaking. "Lynn…listen to be." Lincoln told her with Lynn gulping in response. "When it comes to my respect for you, consider almost all of it lost." Lynn violently flinched at what her brother said to her. "Listen here and listen good! I'm no longer someone you can push around! You can't force me to do anything for or with you again! Making me spar with you, give up stuff for you, threatening me for various things. Those days are over! I know for a fact that I'm stronger than you can ever be!"

Lynn took in every word Lincoln said and slowly nodded. She remembered all the times she made fun of Lincoln for his interest, forced him to spar with her and practice, or threatened him to do stuff like give up the TV remote of any snacks he might have…but no more.

"But…if there's one thing I can promise you its this. I could never ever hate you." Lynn silently gasped in response as she looked at her brother giving his signature kind smile. "We all makes mistakes. Me, you, Leni, Luna, Lori, all of us. But one thing will always be true, we're family. We always stick together and have each other's back. No matter how much we screw up. Promise me you'll remember that."

A few tears built up in Lynn's eyes as she managed a tiny smile and gave a small nod. "I will…" She quietly said with Lincoln nodding in approval.

"Thank you, I'll see you at home." Lincoln said as he turned around and started walking away with Dan soon following and Margo quickly going to her best friends' side.

"Hey, that was really cool of you man." Dan complimented Lincoln with a pat on the back.

"Well I guess every family tree has its sap." Leonidas commented, getting an eye roll but smile from Lincoln.

However, Lincoln quickly frowned as his eyes turned to a glare. '_So going after my sisters now Masquerade? That's it, the next time I see you…'_

'_You're gonna be sorry.'_

* * *

**_I enjoyed this so much! Might be my favorite chapter so far. Chapters that focus on character development are always the best imo and I can't get enough of them. Seeing the characters grow and become something bigger and form bonds is just an experience you get to share. _**

**_Oh, before I forget, the Gorem episode happened off screen. There's literally nothing I can do to change that, just watch the actual episode on Youtube._**

**_So with that said, remember to fav, follow, and review and stay tuned for..._**

**_"Grandpa's Got a Brand New Bakugan"_**


	14. Grandpa's got a Brand New Bakugan

**_Alright everyone...time for the ninja himself to come into play...I won't keep you...just read._**

* * *

"So, any of you ready for battle or are you gonna be chicken?" Currently at the parking lot of Royals Woods one and only Burpin Burger Runo, Dan, Marucho, and Lincoln were currently being blocked off from leaving the parking area of the fast food place by a 16-year-old with green hair that had a purple streak in it. And on his wrist was a Ventus Masquerade launcher.

Runo, Lincoln, and Marucho glared at the green haired boy as Dan simply sighed and put his hands to his hips. "Another lacky of Masquerade huh?" Dan sighed in an unimpressed tone.

"Yeah this is starting to get old." Runo said in an annoyed tone.

"And after last time, I'm really getting sick and tired of this guys games." Lincoln commented as he was still pissed beyond belief over who Masquerade acquired as his last lacky.

"Ah well, shouldn't take long to teach this guy who's the boss." Runo said with a smirk as she strapped on her own launcher.

"No way!" Dan said as a smile came to his face as he stood in front of Runo with his own launcher equipped. "I call dibs on this creep!"

"Hey!" Runo yelled in irritation. "No fair!"

"Dan wait!" Marucho insisted with a concerned expression.

As Lincoln reached out for Dan, it proved to be to late as Dan and the green haired boy both raised up their field cards. "**Field Open!**" With Dan's card glowing red and the 16-year-olds glowing green, time began to slow down and eventually come to stop as the Bakugan field opened around them and-

"No fair you're butting in Dan!" Runo yelled as the field disappeared and time began to start again.

"Wait a minute…" Lincoln slowly said as he started to realize what was going on as the green haired kid hopped onto a motorcycle parked behind him.

"You got lucky!" The 16-year-old yelled as he started to drive away on the motor bike. "Things will be different next time!"

"Well so much for that." Leonidas commented as they watched the Ventus brawler drive away.

"So, I'm guessing you beat him?" Runo asked with a small sweat drop.

"Way to go Dan!" Marucho complimented his brown-haired friend with a smile. "I had total confidence you could do it!"

However, Lincoln frowned a little as he saw Dan's unmoving and seemingly stuck form. "Hey Dan, are you ok?" Lincoln asked in a slightly concerned tone.

Just then Dan finally turned his head to look at his friends and gave them a bit of a strained smile. "Ah it was nothing." Dan said through his teeth followed by what sounded like a grunt. "I had him on the ropes." But right as Dan finished talking, he suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground of the parking lot.

"Dan!" Runo cried out in concern as she and the others ran over to check on him.

"Are you ok?" Marucho asked in a worried tone as he tried to shake Dan awake.

"I'll call Lori to come take you home! Just hang in there!" Lincoln told his unconscious friend as he took out his phone and quickly dialed up his eldest sister.

* * *

"Man that was way up their on the freaky scale." Dan said as he was currently laying down at his bed with Lincoln, Lori, Runo, and Marucho standing by his bed. It was only a little bit ago when Dan had woken up and the sun was already starting to set in the sky. "I remember I beat the dude but after that it's a total bank."

"Geez, must have literally been one intense brawl." Lori said with sympathy in her voice as she leaned against the wall next to Dan's bed. "Its rare to see you get overwhelmed by this."

"You should have seen him leave Dan. It was hilarious." Marucho explained while chuckling. "The way that wanna be Brawler ran away with his tail between his legs."

"Well it is kinda your own fault for Mr. Buttinski." Runo told Dan with an 'I told you so' look on her face.

"Back of Runo." Lincoln told the bluette with a light glare "He really doesn't need this now."

"I knew this would turn into a snooze fest!" Dan yelled as he shot up from bed and glaring at Runo. "I was just lucky when Drago took that chump out when he did!"

"Well according to my data you'll face much tougher opponents in the future." Marucho started explaining as everyone in the room turned to the blond kid. "So I suggest our strategy focus's on this idea on any future battles."

"In English." Runo said, not understanding what Marucho was getting at.

"What I mean is that a Bakugan is at its peak when all six of its Attributes are in perfect alignment." Marucho summarized before explaining what he truly meant. "Dan's Bakugan is Drago and it's a Pyrus, a fire Attribute. Runo's Tigrerra is Haos, a light Attribute, My Preyas is an Aquos, the water Attribute. And Lincoln's Leonidas is a Darkus Bakugan, representing the Attribute of Darkness."

"Um, hello." Lori spoke up with a bit of annoyed tone as they kinda left her outta this.

However, Dan, Marucho, and Runo seemingly continued to ignore Lori with Lincoln raising a brow at why his friends weren't including Lori and Chrysopeon as the wind Attribute of Ventus.

"Add in Julie and her earth Attribute Subterra." Dan commented as everyone in the room remembered how Julie had recently acquired a talking Bakugan partner of her own. Subterra Gorem, a powerful and _giant_, even by Bakugan standards.

"That means we're one short. Ventus, the wind Attribute." Runo commented with Dan and Marucho nodded.

This really ticked Lori off as she glared at the younger Brawlers in front of her with Lincoln also getting annoyed at them pretty much forgetting about his oldest sister. But right as Lori was about to raise her voice, Marucho quickly spoke up. "Hey! Guess who has Ventus!"

Dan's eyes snapped wide open as Lincoln felt his heart skip a few beats. "_Shun_!" The Pyrus user yelled out as he remembered his old friend who used to be the number one ranked Bakugan Brawler in the world.

"Yeah you're right!" Runo said with a big smile on her face. "I mean with how strong Masquerade is, adding Shun to the team will really-

"NO!" Everyone was caught off guard and jumped a bit at the loud no that was given. Surprising everyone even more was that it was Lincoln who gave it with his head turned away from everyone, his face glaring at the ground and his first tightened. "We are _not _getting Shun!"

"You can't be serious!" Runo said as she glared at the back of Lincoln's head. "I figured you'd jump at the idea of getting him back! You seriously can't still be upset about what happened!" However, Runo quickly shut up as Lincoln's glare met her way causing her to flinch and clamp her mouth shut.

"I understand what happened between you two Lincoln, but you need to push aside all that." Marucho pleaded to Lincoln, trying to get him on board with getting Shun for the team. "Masquerades just to strong, we need Shun's help."

"Well I'm on Lincoln with this one." Dan said with his arms crossed with an adamant look on his face. "That jerk has had nothing to say to us recently and we got nothing to say to him!"

"Exactly." Lincoln agreed with Dan as he turned away from everyone. "And in case you all have forgotten we have a Ventus Brawler. Lori is just as good if not better then Shun."

"Yeah! What was that all about?" Lori yelled towards everyone, not agreeing with Lincoln but wondering why they were kinda forgetting about her. "I'm a Ventus Brawler to ya know!"

"Well, yeah…" Runo slowly began nervously. "You're good Lori…but you're no Shun."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Lori asked while glaring at Runo who was slowly getting more nervous.

"It just means we need all the help we can get!" Marucho quickly stepped in, trying to defuse the situation. "Lori, you're a great battler! But so is Shun, it would just make our team stronger to have him with us! Please Dan, Lincoln, reconsid-"

"I said no ok!" Lincoln raised his voice even louder then last time getting everyone to flinch. Lincoln then started walking towards the door of the room. "We don't need Shun, and that's FINAL!" Lincoln took a few deep breaths after his outburst before opening the door to Dan's room. "I'll be in the van…" And with that Lincoln left the Pyrus users' room.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Lori slowly started walking out herself. "Look guys…" Lori told everyone in a soft tone. "Shun is…a sensitive topic for Lincoln ever since _that_ happened…so just…ease up a little ok." After saying that, Lori made her leave of Dan's room as well.

* * *

After giving Dan's mom a quick goodbye and telling her that Dan was alright, Lori exited the house and made her way to vanzilla where Lincoln was already waiting for her in the passenger seat. Lori could see a little bit of Lincoln's expression in the glass of the window showed he was still quite upset. "You ok?" Lori asked as she got into the Loud family van and started it up.

"…" Lincoln was silent.

Lori let out a sigh as she started driving away from Dan's house and towards her and Lincolns home. "Look…I get it ok." Lori told her little brother as she tried to help improve her brother's mood. "I understand that…you're probably still a little hurt by what happened. Shun was like your bro-"

"I don't care." Lincoln grumbled as he continued to look out the window. "He made it clear he rather have nothing to do with me, so its better that I have nothing to do with him either. If that jerk wants to be on his own let him."

Lori sighed again as Leonidas hopped onto the front part of the van, specifically on top of the radio, and looked up at Lori. "Leave the kid alone Lori." Leonidas told the eldest Loud child. "He says we don't need this Shun guy then we don't need em. I say we're strong enough as it is."

"You're literally no helping right now." Lori told the Darkus Bakugan, giving him a blank look. But since Lori could think of nothing else to say, Lori simply focused on driving home.

In a matter of around 8 minutes, vanzilla pulled up into the Loud house. Lincoln wasted no time in quickly grabbing his partner and quickly running back into the house and presumably going up and locking himself into his room. Lori looked at where her brother ran and simply lowered her head with a frown on her face. "I've never seen him act like this before." Lori's partner Bakugan Chrysopeon said as she floated up to Lori's shoulder. "It's quite concerning."

"Yeah…" Lori let out quietly as she closed the door to the family van and locked it up.

"Why is Lincoln being so adamant and not approaching this Shun you speak of?" The Ventus Bakugan asked, both worried and a bit curious about the situation. "Did something happen between them."

"You…You could say that." Lori slowly said as memories of the past came to her mind. She then Lori finally started approaching the house with one room inside being her destination. "I think it'll be easier if I show you some stuff." Lori then entered her house, not paying attention to her siblings running around a few of them saying hi to her or asking why Lincoln just rushed upstairs.

Once Lori was on the second floor of the house, she looked up at the ceiling and reached out for a string hanging from what looked like a loose part of the ceiling and pulled it down to reveal a staircase leading to the attic. The eldest sibling quickly went up into the attic of the house where the family stored a lot of stuff they either would only bring out for the holidays or is just easier and safer to keep her then around the house.

Lori grabbed a flashlight they kept up here for everyone to use when they go into the attic. She quickly turned it on as she went into the dark corner of the attic that Lucy like to use as one of her secret dark places and walked over to a pile of boxes in the far corner. Lori knew which box she was looking for and started unstacking the boxes still the one on the very bottom was by itself.

"What is it?" Chrysopeon asked as Lori looked down at the box. The box was almost completely covered in dust, showing it hasn't been touched in a long, long time.

"You…know Lincoln's best friend, right?" Lori slowly asked her partner as she continued to stare down at the box.

"Clyde?" Chrysopeon asked with a hint of confusion in her voice. Chrysopeon remembered seeing Clyde a few times when Lincoln would have him over. "Yes, I believe so, he's a rather nice boy with a rather…unhealthy obsession with you."

Lori shivered when Chrysopeon brought up Clyde's crush on Lori. More then enough bad memories with that, but she couldn't focus on that. "Well…Clyde wasn't _always_ Lincoln's best friend." As Lori said this, she wiped over the top of the box in front of her showing that the box was labeled…

_My Brother_

"Brother?" Chrysopeon asked with her interest now piqued.

Lori didn't say anything and simply opened the box to reveal it was pull of photographs from many years ago. Each and every photo featured in some way a familiar boy with white hair and green eyes and another boy about a couple years older with black hair and brown eyes.

The age of the two boys ranged from toddlers, to young kids, to looking like they were taken just about a year ago. "Yep, these are pictures of Lincoln and Shun throughout the years." Lori explained to her partner. Smiling as she held up a photo of a 2-year-old Lincoln and a 4-year-old Shun.

"Aaaw, they're adorable." Chrysopeon gushed at seeing the two young humans.

"Yeah, Shun and Lincoln used to be friends since…forever." Lori explained to the Ventus Bakugan as she went through more photo's the box had to offer. "They're were pretty much brothers. And when you have so many sisters…a brother is something you treasure."

"…So what happened?" Chrysopeon asked in a quiet and sad tone. Wondering what event could have happened that would have separated these two great friends, brother even.

"…" Lori was silent as a sadden expression came to her face. She remembered it all to well. Right as Lori opened her mouth to speak up, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. When Lori pulled it out, she saw that Runo had sent her a text.

**Runo – Come to Marucho's house right now. We're getting Shun whether they like it or not.**

* * *

"Man, if Lincoln and Dan find out what we're doing they're going to be so mad." Marucho said as currently, once the moon was up, Runo, Lori, and Marucho had met up at the latter's house and were ready to go off to Shun's place and go get him.

Due to Shun now living quite a ways away now-a-days, the three were using one of Marucho's family's private aircrafts to get there. With Marucho's butler Kato at the wheel, they would be at Shun's family dojo in about a half an hour. "Ya know I thought those two would jump at the idea at recruiting Shun. Dan and Shun used to be the best of buds and Lincoln and Shun, well, they might as well have been brothers. They're the ones who even made the Bakugan rules."

"Wow, that is almost interesting." Preyas commented with a rather unimpressed tone.

"Call me crazy but I thought for sure they'd wanna hook up with Shun again." Runo said to the Aquos Bakugan as Lori nodded.

"Well, I don't know about Dan, but Lincoln is…still hurting about it." Lori slowly explained to the two humans in front of her who both nodded in understanding. "But I can tell he literally still misses Shun and sooner or later he's gonna have to see him again. And in the situation we're currently in, later doesn't cut it."

And with that said, they simply traveled to Shun's place in mostly silence, with the occasional conversation popping up now and then. "Master Marucho, we're closing in on our destination." Kato informed everyone after 30 minutes of flying passed.

"I see it down there!" Marucho said as he and the other looked down to see a large dojo with nothing but green forest surrounding it.

"Its like Japan threw up on Michigan." Lori couldn't help but joke as she looked at the large area beneath them.

"According to my research, Shun's family owns the largest estate in all of the state." Marucho explained to the girls as Kato started to land the aircraft. "From what I've found out, Shun's grandfather used to be a ninja warrior during the time where they were ninja warriors. His family eventually came here from Japan when he retired and they lived deep in the woods of Michigan and eventually built the dojo we're seeing now."

"Wow, big bucks, an impressive family history and good looks." Runo said with a small smirk on her face. "Hello Shun~"

Lori and Marucho sweat dropped in response to Runo's comment as the former told the bluette. "Runo, remember why we're here, k?"

Soon, Kato found an area where he could land allowing the three Brawlers to exit and walk up to Shun's family dojo. The door was wooden with metal linings and we're quite big and intimidating. "I'm starting to have second thoughts about this." Marucho said with a nervous gulp. "I mean, what if Shun decides he's not interested in joining us? Our whole mission would be a failure, and worse we could lose our Bakugan."

"Quit being such a worry wart." Runo told her rich blond friend.

"She's right Marucho, we have to at least try." Lori said as she and Runo approached the big wooden door. Lori then knocked loudly on the door. "Hey Shun!"

Right as Lori did this, the doors to the dojo opened up almost immediately, granting them all access inside. "Well…that was literally fast." Lori said in a slightly surprised tone as the three of them simply shrugged and entered the property.

Once inside they walked forward further to the main part of the property, they dojo. Runo slide the door open and the three then saw a rather long hallway they couldn't even see the end to. The three then followed customs and took off their shoes before walking into the hallway on the look out for Shun or anyone else that lives here that can tell them were Shun is.

"So you think anyone's home?" Marucho asked as so far they've been walking through this hallway for about 4 minutes and they haven't seen either a person or even a door or an end to this hallway.

"No clue, but let's keep looking." Runo said as they continued forward.

"At least we won't have to worry about getting lost." Lori said with a small sweat drop. "We've literally been walking in one straight line."

"Yeah, kinda reminds me of your place Marucho." Runo commented as the Aquos Brawler looked up at her. "A big oversized mansion with never enough bathrooms." But right as Runo said this she suddenly tripped over a thing piece of string that was set up on the floor to where it was almost invisible.

This causes the sound of clanging wood to be heard outside as the three quickly panicked and looked around. "Runo, what did you do?!" Lori yelled as she looked around for the source of the noise.

"I don't know!" Runo yelled back as suddenly the walls surrounding them suddenly opened up revealing holes in them. Emerging from these holes were long sticks that they narrowly dodged as they reached the other wall. More sticks emerging threatening to trap them and hit them as they quickly ran for it to avoid them as the walls forward had something similar happen. "Run for it!"

They somehow managed to avoid all the trap walls, but as they continued running down the trapped hallway, a floor board opened up revealing a pit fall trap. But the three Brawlers were quick to react as they jumped right before they reached the pitfall and managed to jump clean over it and avoid falling in.

But when they landed, a hole opened up in the ceiling and dropped a net down on them, trapping them. "This house is one big booby trap!" Marucho said as the three struggled under the net.

"You can say that again!" Runo said as she struggled.

"Why would literally anyone do this?!" Lori yelled as she tried to get them free.

"Ahahahaha! Well what do we have here?" The three Brawler's stopped their struggles as they heard the old sounding voice. "A couple of snoopy little kids who have the gol to break into my house." The three then looked to see an old man that looked to be in his 80's but still incredibly healthy and fit. He had tanned skinned, brown eyes, grayish white hair that was down in a high pigtail. He had a big mustache, tiny beard, and big eyebrows with pince-nez on his face. He wore a dark green Japanese kimono and white socks. This was Shun's grandfather, Tsuguo Kazami. "If you kids think you're smarter then me then you have another thing coming.

"Sooo…I'm guessing this is the old ninja dude you told us about?" Lori guessed as they all looked up at the old man glaring at them.

"Yep, that's Shun's grandfather." Marucho confirmed with a nod.

"Wow…" Runo let out with a bit of nervousness in her voice at the rather intimidating old man.

"Now then, tell me why you kids are here. Now!" Tusguo demanded to know as he reached for his back. "Or face the wrath of my…_Wooden Stick_." Tsuguo then unsheathed a wooden Bokken from his back and pointed it at the brawlers.

"NOT THE STICK! ANYTHING BUT THE STICK!" Preyas yelled from Marucho's pocket as he peaked his head out to see the old man threatening them.

"Please put down the stick. We come in peace." Marucho pleaded to the old ninja with his hands raised up.

"Yeah, we're friend of your grandson Shun." Runo added on, covering her head in case the old man went to town on them with his stick. "We just wanna see him."

"Look, my name is Lori Loud, and this is Runo, and Marucho, we really didn't mean to break in." Lori told the ninja warrior as she crawled forward as much as she could due to being in the net. "Please, just let us talk to Shun real quick and we'll be on our way."

"My grandson eh?" Tsuguo asked with a raised eyebrow. "You say your friends."

"Yes, here we can prove it." Runo said before reaching into Marucho's pocket.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?! Give me a wedgie!?" Marucho yelled as he felt Runo's hand go down his pocket before Runo finally stopped as she pulled out Preyas.

"See? Show this to Shun and he'll explain everything to you." Runo said as she tossed Preyas towards Shun's grandfather.

"NO! PLEASE!" Preyas begged as he accidently hit Tsuguo's head lightly. "What have I ever done to you! You're as bad as Leonidas!"

Preyas then landed up the ground and closed up into a ball to try and protect himself as Tsuguo picked Preyas up and examined him. "Ah, I see." The old man said with a nod. "I know what you are. You're what they call Bakugan Brawlers. I know all about you. So, you're here to get Shun to play this silly game again huh?"

"Yeah…kinda." Lori said with a nervous smile. There was much more to it than that but they really didn't have the time to properly explain everything.

"That's what I thought. He's not interested." Tsuguo immediately told them making them all flinch. "now leave the premises at once introducers!"

"Please. Can't we just see him for five minutes." Runo asked sweetly as she put her hands together. "Please, please, please, pleeeeeease."

"You're starting to get on my nerves kid." The old ninja warrior told them as he hardened his gaze. "Now beat it!"

"Ugh, we don't have time for this!" Lori yelled as she finally managed to throw the net off of them allowing to stand up. "We're going to see Shun whether you like it or not."

"Yeah! And do you mind giving me back Preyas!" Marucho followed up as he stood his ground.

"Heh, sure, what do I care?" Tsuguo said as he flicked Preyas back at Marucho, the Aquos Bakugan screaming all the way. "Now then! Leave my home or el…hold a minute." Suddenly the old ninja warrior realized something said earlier and looked Lori right in the eye. "You! Tall one! What did you say your name was again?"

"Um…Lori Loud." Lori said nervously as Shun's grandfather pointed his Wooden Stick at Lori.

"Loud? Like in Lincoln and Rita Loud?" Tsuguo in order to make sure he was thinking of the right people.

"Yes!" Lori quickly said with a nod. "Lincoln's my younger brother and Rita is my mom!"

"…Fine." The Brawlers eyes widened at what Tsuguo said to them. "You can see my grandson."

"Really?" Runo said as they all gave wide smile. "Thank you so mu-" However, as Runo stepped forward she was quickly cut off from going forward as Tsuguo swiped his stick at her causing her to jump back in fright.

"Eh, eh, eh, eh. Not you two!" Tsuguo yelled as he pointed his stick to Marucho and Runo before finally pointing at Lori. "Only her!"

"What?!" Marucho yelled as he and Runo gasped. "How come?!"

"Because I said so!" Tsuguo yelled making the three of them flinch. "So, unless you want at least her to see Shun, leave my property at once!"

"But…" Runo silently pleaded before Lori cut Runo off with a raised hand.

"Just…do what he says guys." Lori told the two of them with a small smile. "I'll get through to Shun. Just wait outside."

Both Runo and Marucho looked at each other for a brief moment before looking to Lori and nodding. "Ok sir." Marucho relented. "We'll leave."

Tsuguo nodded in satisfaction as he reached for the left wall and pulled up a small hidden area in it to reveal a red button. Once the old ninja pressed the button, all the traps behind them in the hallway disappeared, making a clean passage way. Shun's grandfather then turned to Lori and told the eldest Loud sibling. "Shun's outside, follow me." Lori simply nodded as she followed the man with Runo and Marucho reluctantly headed the other way and left.

"So…why did you decide to take me to Shun when you knew my last name?" Lori asked, quite curious that the old man would finally comply once he knew her last name was Loud.

"My daughter was best friends with your mother." Tsuguo explained with Lori nodded in response. She knew her mother Rita was great friends with Shun's mom Shiori Kazami would spend so much time together before…

"So, what about Lincoln?" Lori asked as she shook the memory from her head. "You mentioned him to."

"…" The old ninja warrior was silent for a moment before speaking. "I remember he and my grandson were the best of friend. Even calling themselves brothers." He spoke in a soft, almost sad tone that Lori was surprised to her come from the old man's mouth. "I suppose…letting Shun speak to one of his sisters is the least I could do for him. However, that doesn't change the fact that the last time I saw that young man he was a very disrespectable brat."

"Look…I get that Lincoln said somethings he shouldn't have." Lori apologized to the old man as she held her arm. "But Lincoln gets…a bit irrational when he's emotional and a lot happened that day for him, Shun, and you. So, can you really blame him?"

"…I suppose not." Tsuguo quietly admitted with his head lowered a little bit.

After a few more minutes of walking, Tsuguo led Lori to a door that led outside. "My grandson is out there." Tsuguo told Lori as he stepped aside. "I'll give you five minute and not a second more."

"Thank you sir." Lori told the old ninja warrior as she stepped past him and opened the door. Once outside, Lori's ears were introduced to the beautiful sound of a whistling tune. Looking around for the source of it.

She then realized it came from above and looked up on the roof of the small hut in front of her and gasped when she saw that, blowing into a piece of grass producing the whistling sound, was the very person she was looking for…

Shun Kazami.

"Hey Shun!" Lori called out, causing Shun to stop playing his grass whistle and open his eyes. "Down here!"

Shun looked down at the source of the familiar voice and saw Lori Loud. "…Lori?" Shun asked in a calm and serious sounding voice as his brown eyes looked down at the 17-year-old.

"Yes! Its me Shun!" Lori confirmed for the 13-year-old. "Its…been awhile huh?"

"…Is Lincoln with you?" Shun asked, disregarding what Lori said.

"N-No…" Lori stuttered as she looked down a bit. "He…actually has no idea I'm here. I came here without telling him.

"Hmm…" Shun hummed as he looked away from Lori and narrowed his eyes and nothing in particular. However, what Lori fail to see and what only people with the most precise eyes could see, he seemed to have a bit of disappointment in his expression before looking at Lori again. "Why have you come here."

"Because we need your help!" Lori told him, Shun's expression never changing as Lori talked. "There's someone named Masquerade going around sending everyone's Bakugan to the Doom Dimension! He's even getting into other people's head and making them play is game! He even got to my little sister Lynn! Please Shun! We need your help!"

"…" Shun was silent as he took all of Lori's words in and looked up in the night sky. Around here, away from the city and people, all the stars could be seen glimmering in the dark sky.

"Well…" Lori asked with a small amount of worry in her voice as Shun remained quiet.

"Sorry. I don't play on a team." Shun told the eldest Loud girl, causing her to gasp. Shun then turned back to Lori with narrowed eyes. "Now leave."

"Bu-But Shun! Please! You're literally our only hope!" Lori continued pleading and asking Shun for help. "Don't you want to see Lincoln again! I know he misses you!"

"…" That cause Shun to think. But it was only for a moment as he closed his eyes before giving Lori a small but fierce glare to Lori. "I said no. Its none of my business."

Lori frowned at Shun's words. She thought for sure using Lincoln would guarantee that Shun would come back…but no. "Fine…" Lori let out quietly as she turned around with a lowered head. But before she left, Lori looked back at Shun and gave the 13-year-old ninja a glare. "Guess my brother was right. Bailing out on others is what you do best." With that said, Lori made her leave…missing Shun's expression change just a tiny bit to a frown and his fist tighten.

Once outside the dojo, Lori was quickly approached by Runo and Marucho who anxiously asked in unison, "So?"

Lori lowered her head in response and slowly shook her head, causing Runo and Marucho to frown and lower their heads as well. "Sorry guys…" Lori apologized to her fellow Brawlers. "He's not coming…"

"Well…at least you tried." Marucho tried to encourage with a small smile on his face as the three started to head back to the aircraft they came on.

* * *

Back inside the dojo, in a small storage hut a little far off from the main part of the dojo, Shun was inside thinking about his early encounter with Lori. This storage hut was a place Shun could always go for complete silence that allowed him to think. And he certainly had a lot to think about.

"Are you sure you went her and the others she was with to leave Shun?" A female voice asked the 13-year-old. The voice sounded wise and gentle; a voice Shun had gotten to known well for quite a while. "If they do, they might never come back. They came such a long way just to talk to you."

"…Yeah." Shun admitted as he looked out the single window the hut had.

"Oh Shun…" The female voice said as Shun looked at the Crescent moon in the sky.

"It's alright _Skyress_." Shun reassured his friend, revealing her name.

"…You miss him." Shun's eyes widened a little bit as he looked to where his friend was. And it was revealed to be a Bakugan. Ventus Skyress. "I can tell you miss him so much Shun. And it gets worse every day."

Shun didn't say anything as he simply looked down. The young ninja reached into his pocket and pulled out a small photo. It was one of the last photo's he and Lincoln took together before he never seen him again. It was a simply picture of him and Lincoln with their arms around each other's shoulder and giving the camera a smirk. "…He doesn't wanna see me anymore." Shun told the Bakugan as he looked at the photo. "He went out of his way to visit…and I brushed him off and didn't even let him inside. Probably hates me now considering what his sister said."

"You won't know unless you give seeing him again a chance." Skyress told Shun in a wise and motherly tone. "If it's because you're worried about me, don't. Everything will be fine. You need to stop running away from whats in your heart. There will come a day where you will have to face up to it. And today might just be that time."

"…" Shun was silent as he stood up and walked up to the drawer Skyress was on and opened it up to reveal his Bakugan belt that could carry cards and Bakugan Balls, fingerless gloves, two Ventus Bakugan, and a stack of gate cards and ability cards.

* * *

"Man, I can't believe Shun wouldn't come with us." Runo yelled as the three approached the area were Kato parked the aircraft.

"Yeah, first Dan and Lincoln blow us off and now Shun doesn't want anything to do with us." Marucho said with a frown on his face.

"Maybe those three won't be able to come together again." Lori sadly said as they walked up to the aircraft.

However, as they came forward, suddenly a dark purple blur jumped out right in front of them at incredible speeds…

Shun.

"Shun!" All three said in unison as the 13-year-old looked at all of them.

"So…did you change your mind?" Lori asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Are you joining up with us?" Marucho eagerly asked.

Shun didn't say anything as the headlights of the aircraft turned on behind Shun giving him an outline. The three Brawlers watched as Shun strapped on and tightened his fingerless gloves and look all three of them in the eyes and said one thing…

"_Only if you can beat me."_

The three Brawlers gasped in response. Shun was _challenging _them. Runo was the first to recover from the shock as she grinned at the young ninja. "Sounds like a blast!" The bluette said as she pulled out her field card. "I'm up for it."

"No Runo." Marucho quickly stepped in to stop the Haos user. "I have a better change at matching my Aquos against his Ventus, you gotta trust me."

"No way you two." Lori said as she pulled out her field card and glared at Shun. "He's all mine.

"I'm ready when you three are!" All of them gasped again as they looked at Shun and saw him pull out his field card. "I'll take all three of you on."

"You can't be serious." Runo claimed, even for someone who used to be number one in the game, there was no way he could take pull off a win in a three vs one scenario.

However, Shun was dead serious as he said, "Yes!" And raised up his field card.

"**Field Open!**" The three said in unison as Lori and Shun's cards glowed green, Runo's glowed yellow, and Marucho's glowed blue as time came to a stop as the Bakugan field opened around them.

"He's completely crazy." Runo said as they all looked at Shun from across the field. "Three against one, he doesn't stand a chance."

"**Gate Card set!**" All four of them said in unison as they threw their gate cards onto the field with Lori's landing in front of Shun, Runo's landing to the right of Shun, Marucho's landing to the left of Shun, and Shun's landing in front of Lori.

"Ok I'll go first!" Marucho said as he loaded up his launcher with an Aquos Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl! Terrorclaw stand!" Shun's expression never changed from the calm and serious one he seemed to always have on as Marucho's Aquos Terrorclaw looked down on him.

Shun then grabbed a Ventus Bakugan in between his fingers and threw it where Terrorclaw was. "Ravenoid Stand!" Throwing the Bakugan, it was revealed to be a Ventus Ravenoid that flew high above Terrorclaw.

"Ok! **Gate Card open!**" Marucho commanded as his gate card was revealed to be an Aquos Attribute card that boost Terrorclaws power.

Shun then quickly pulled out an ability card. "Alright, **Ability Card Activate: Tornado Pandemonium!**" Shun then raised his ability card high as a green tornado emerge from is and covered Terrorclaws gate card and canceling the gate card's power and powering down Terrorclaw. Once the gate card was nullified, Ravenoid divebombed Terrorclaw and shoulder checked the giant crab causing it to go back to ball form and land at Marucho's feet.

"Terrorclaw!" Marucho said in concern for his fallen Bakugan.

'_Ok Lori, keep your head in the game._' Lori thought as she kept her eyes locked on Shun. '_You can't just jump into battle, even when its three against one its still Shun. Just keep your eyes focused and don't play your turn until you spot an opening. That'll be the time to strike and he'll go down like a house of cards.'_

"Alright, my turn now!" Runo said as she loaded up her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then shot out her Bakugan at her own card. "Saurus Stand!" At 290 G's, Runo's Saurus roared as it was unleased in battle.

"But that's not enough G's." Lori stated as she looked at Saurus lower G power.

"And that's exactly what he's thinking." Runo explained with a smirk on her face. "All I have to do is throw down my Saurus character card and double my power." However, Shun simply narrowed his eyes as he threw his Ravenoid into battle once more on his own gate card. "Huh? How come he didn't attack us?"

Lori hummed as a bead of sweat went down her forehead. Shun was planning something but she didn't know what? Shun hasn't played in so long, it was nearly impossible to predict him. '_This isn't good. I can't jump in yet. We both use Ventus, so we can easily disrupt each other, but he still hasn't gone all out. If only I can see what he's doing, I can use my Siege to get things started and then Chrysopeon's Petrifying Stare ability as well as her Serpentine Tornado ability can easily take him out! But for now, gotta play it safe.'_

"Marucho, I have an idea." Lori told the Aquos user as she whispered something into his ear.

"Hmmm, as crazy as it sounds it just might work." Marucho said with a smile as he threw down a gate card where his first one originally was. "Alright Limulus, it's all on you! Bakugan Brawl!" Marucho then fired out the Bakugan he spoke to out onto his own gate card where the horseshoe crab Bakugan now stood on.

"And now **Ability Activate: Holograph Divide!**" Marucho threw the ability card at Limulus causing waves of blue energy to cover the Aquos Bakugan. "With this defense shield Limulus power will increase as the battle intensifies! That's because he'll absorb the power used against him!"

"Way to go you two!" Runo complimented both blond haired Brawlers. "With all that set up, no way is he getting past us."

"Get ready." Shun warned them as he threw down another gate card to the right of his original one and threw down a Ventus Falconeer on it that flew up high and looked down at the three humans its Brawler was facing.

"Dang it!" Lori said as it looks like Shun was one step ahead of them.

"Back to the drawing board." Runo said with a sigh as yet another on of their plans seemed to have back fired.

"Well, looks like my turn." Tigrerra said from Runo's hand.

"Huh? What are you saying Tigrerra?" Runo asked her partner as she brought her hand close to her face.

"Shun's Bakugan are on the verge of attacking." The Haos Bakugan warned them. "I know there moves. Trust me!"

"Atta boy Tigrerra!" Preyas encouraged as he floated up. "You go out there and show em who's boss!"

"Be wary." Chrysopeon spoke up. "Its possible he's up to something."

"Well, I believe in you!" Runo told her partner with a smile as she threw down another gate card to the left of Shun's original card. Runo then loaded Tigrerra up into her launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Runo then shot out Tigrerra at her new gate card. "Tigrerra stand!" Tigrerra let out a mighty and powerful roar as she was unleashed into the battle field.

Shun nodded in response to this move. Everything was in place…well…almost anything. "Hey Lori!" Shun yelled, getting the eldest Loud child's attention. "You don't seem to be participating! Let me help you out!"

"Wait…what?" Lori asked as she soon become overwhelmed with worry.

Shun then put Skyress up to his forehead as he asked his partner. "If I need you…are you there Skyress?"

"Always." Skyress reassured the boy.

Shun then looked forward as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card open: Quartet Battle!**" Shun's gate card then started to glow as it revealed itself as the quartet battle command card.

"Oh no…" Lori let out in dread as two of her Bakugan automatically floated up and was set out towards the gate card. "No! No! No! No!" Lori could any watch as her Ventus Siege and Robotallion entered the battle.

"Alright! Bakugan Brawl!" Rather then let the card do it on its own, Shun threw Skyress at the card where three Ventus Bakugan were waiting. As Skyress stood, storm clouds covered the sky as a powerful green flash emerged from the dark clouds. "Ventus Skyress descend!"

Emerging from the storm clouds was a Bakugan that was massive in size even by most Bakugan standards. Resembled with a Phoenix with green feathers over her body and piercing yellow eyes and sharp talons was Shun's partner, Ventus Skyress.

"Woah…" Lori let out as she and her teammates witnessed Skyress as she let out a powerful cry that shook the battlefield.

"**Ability Activate!**" Once Skyress was on the field, Shun wasted no time in getting things started. "**Winds of Fury!**"

Letting out another powerful cry, Skyress generating a massive gust of wind from her wings that covered the entire field and started blowing all the Bakugan on it back as she along with Ravenoid and Falconeer also started flying in the air beyond the cards and also generating wind across the field. "Whats going on?!" Runo yelled as she, Marucho, and Lori struggled not to be blown away.

Before they knew it, all their Bakugan started to get blown away from the battlefield. First it was Limulus and Saurus as they were blown away and reverted to ball form and landed at their respective Brawlers feet. Then it was Lori's Siege and Robotallion as Ravenoid and Falconeer each tackled on and sent them to ball form and at Lori's feet.

"Tigrerra! You need to hang out!" Runo yelled to her partner as Tigrerra tried sinking her claws into the ground to avoid being blown away.

But it was proving to be fruitless as the Haos Bakugan was slowly being lifted off the card. "I…can't!" Tigrerra grunted in one last struggle as she was blown clean off the card. "RUNO I'M SORRY!" And with that, Tigrerra was reverted back to ball form and landed at Runo's feet.

"No way…" Marucho said as they all looked at their defeated Bakugan.

"He…got all of us…" Lori said as they were all now at one Bakugan with Shun still having all of his and Runo having her strongest Bakugan out for the count.

Skyress then glowed as she was reverted back to ball form and returned to Shun's hand with Falconeer and Ravenoid going back to the gate cards they were originally on and staying in battle.

"Welp…we're toast." Preyas said as they looked at the battlefield.

"Maybe not." Marucho said as he put a hand to his chin in thought.

"What do you mean Marucho?" Lori asked as she turned to the short 11-year-old. "He wiped out all of us, one more loss and we're done for.

"Yes, but I believe I figured out his attack!" Marucho said as he went up to Runo who was one her knees checking to make sure Tigrerra was ok.

"Yeah! Chin up Runo!" Preyas encouraged, his spirit now back. "It ain't over till the pleasantly plump lady sings!"

"So we still have a chance?" Runo asked as she turned to her blond friends.

"If there's a will, there's a way!" Chrysopeon encouraged,

"Alright Preyas, we need you, you're our only hope." Marucho said as he grabbed his partner.

"Oh boy, I'm not gonna have to train you in the ways of the Jedi, am I?" Preyas joked with a nervous tone as Marucho loaded up the Aquos Bakugan and shot him out towards Falconeer. "AAAAAAHHHH!"

"Preyas Stand!" Marucho said as Preyas landed on the card.

A stage appeared as some curtain drew back revealing Preyas with his signature umbrella. "I heard there was a little soiree happening so I'd thought I'd just pop in and play! Shall we begin?" Once Preyas was done with his intro, he quickly threw his umbrella away and turned to Marucho with a panicked look. "Now what do I do?!"

Marucho looked to his Baku-pod and saw that Preyas was at 300 G's and Shun's Falconeer was at 320 G's. Shun was quick to act as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card open!**"

"Not so fast!" Marucho said as he held up an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Blue Stealth!**"

"Now watch as Preyas the Great…disappears!" Preyas then waved his hands in front of his face and suddenly became completely invisible.

"Huh? Why won't my gate card open?" Shun asked as his gate card failed to open once Marucho activated Preyus's ability.

"Yoohoo! Over here~" Preyas teased as he danced in front of Falconeer with the Ventus Bakugan not having a clue as to where the Aquos Bakugan was.

"Blue Stealth is an ability only Preyas can use." Marucho explained with a smirk on his face. "It prevents you from opening your gate card while lowering your Bakugan by 50 G's and adding the same amount to Preyas.

The Baku-pod then showed Falconeer going down to 270 G's and Preyas going up to 350 as the Aquos Bakugan cracked his knuckles. "Now Preyas the Great will perform is next trick! Making you Disappear!" With that, Preyas delivered a knuckle sandwich to Falconeer sending the Ventus Bakugan back to ball form and at Shun's feet. "Tada! He's gone!" Preyas then went back to ball form and back to Marucho's hand.

"Good job Preyas!" Marucho complimented his partner.

"Why thank you old chap." Preyas said with a british accent. "Just remember, a magician never reveals his secrets."

"Alright guys, I have a plan." Runo said after witnessing the battle in front of her. "I need to get Tigrerra back into battle."

"But Runo, the rules say-" Marucho was saying before Lori cut him off. The eldest Loud sibling gave Marucho a look that said 'trust us' and nodded. Marucho hummed before nodding and turning to Runo. "Go get em Runo!"

"Alright, let's do this!" Runo said as she shot a Haos Bakugan towards the card Ravenoid was on. "Griffon Stand!" Letting out a roar of a lion, Runo's Haos Griffon glared at Ravenoid. "Alright, time to bring the heat! **Ability Activate: Venomous Beast Torrent Attack!**"

Griffon let out another roar when suddenly, in a flash of golden light, Griffon was replaced with Tigrerra with Griffon now at Runo's feet in ball form. "Face my wrath!" Tigrerra said as she lunged at Ravenoid and slashed it with her claws and sent the raven Bakugan back to ball form and landing at Shun's feet.

"Woah…" Shun let out, his expression still not changing.

"Nice job!" Runo complimented her partner as Tigrerra went back to ball form in Runo's hands.

"Thanks for giving me another change." Tigrerra thanked her brawler.

"Alright guys, this is it." Lori said as she took Chrysopeon in her hands. "It's do or die time."

"Ready Skyress?" Shun asked his partner as he threw down his last Gate Card. "Bakugan Brawl! Ventus Skyress descend!" Once Shun threw Skyress at his new gate card and similar to last time, Skyress flew down from storm clouds that suddenly appeared.

"Alright Preyas, time to battle! Bakugan Brawl!" Marucho then shot out Preyas towards Skyress. "Preyas stand!"

"Alright! I feel like fried chicken for dinner tonight!" Preyas said as he pounded his chest.

"**Ability Activate: Fighting Wind with Water!**" Activating the Ventus and Aquos relation ability, Preyas glowed as his power was boosted by 100.

"**Ability Activate: Cut in Saber!**" Runo activated Tigrerra's signature ability allowing Tigrerra to join Preyas in the battle against Skyress.

Once Tigrerra was in, Lori held up Chrysopeon close to her face. "Alright Chrysopeon, its time to battle." Lori said as a look of guilt came to her face. "This battle…I was so busy trying to predict Shun's move I didn't see his real attack coming and it cost us so much…if we lose this…it'll feel like it was because of me not stepping up."

"That's not true Lori." Chrysopeon told her partner in her signature motherly tone. "No one can blame you for trying to help. That was then, and this is now. It's like you said, its do or die! So, show him what you can do! I'm ready."

"Thanks, Chrysopeon, so much. I really do owe you one." Lori told her partner with a soft smile before looking up at Shun with narrowed eyes and pulled out an ability card. "**Ability Card Activate: Serpentine Torndao!**"

Suddenly Chrysopeon closed up as green winds surrounded her and she was automatically launched towards the gate card where the battle was happening and charged right at Skyress causing the phoenix Bakugan to grunt as she was sent back a bit. "Chrysopeon Stand!" Lori said as, after charging into Skyress, Chrysopeon's true form came into battle with her snake half covered in wind armor.

"_Skyress stands at 3-6-0 G's. Preyas stands at 4-0-0 G's. Tigrerra stands at 3-4-0 G's. Chrysopeon ability increase power by 1-0-0 G's, currently standing at 4-7-0 G's."_ The Baku-pod list all their power levels.

"**Gate Card open****!**" Shun commanded, revealing it to be a Skyress character card, doubling her power. "Alright Skyress, time to lock and load."

"That won't save him!" Runo claimed as she put on a victorious smirk. "We're at 1210 G's, no way he can match the table!"

Just then Preyus jumped on top of Tigrerra and started ridding her as the Haos Bakugan lunged at Skyress with Chrysopeon flying next to them. "We are the champions! We are the champions!" Preyas chanted as Tigrerra roared.

"Its over Skyress!" Chrysopeon yelled as she and her allies charged at Skyress.

"Shun!" Skyress called out to her partner.

"Don't worry Skyress, I still haven't placed my ace!" Shun reassured her as he pulled out his last ability card. "**Ability Activate: Eternal Phoenix – Wings of Inferno!**" Skyress was then engulf in green flames and she quickly started charging at her opponents.

"_Chrysopeon, Tigrerra, and Preyas power decrease by 1-0-0 G's. Skyress power increase by 3-0-0 G's."_ The Baku-pod showed the ability card transferring 100 G's form Chrysopeon, Preyas, and Tigrerra and giving that power to skyress.

"Oh no!" Lori, Runo, and Marucho yelled in unison.

"It can't be!" Chrysopeon gasped.

"Ah! Mother!" Preyas called out as Skyress charged into them and-

_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!_

A massive explosion occurred causing green flames to spread through out the battlefield. Lori, Runo, and Marucho could only watch in shock as their partner Bakugan fell to their feet defeated.

They had lost.

Meanwhile, Shun was surrounded by green flames as he looked at his losing opponents in the eyes and caught Skyress in his hand. His long black hair blew in the wind as he said, "Sorry…"

"_You lose our bet!"_

* * *

**_And bad ass Shun is best Shun. As far as I'm concerned, reboot Shun can burn in a fire. But enough about Cartoon Network ruining their great shows with terrible reboots! Shun is awesome and easily one of my favorite characters and I'm so happy to have him in the story now! _**

**_Also, for those wondering about my other stories, once I do the next chapter, I'm gonna start working on them again. However, Bakugan will be my main priority. I won't lie, this is my favorite story of all the ones I've made and I easily have the most fun doing it. But I will start to update my other stories again._**

**_So remember to leave a fav, follow, and review and stay tuned for..._**

**_"Just for the Shun of it."_**

**_And about the flash back episode that would normally come after this one, I'm gonna kinda condense it and do a summary version of it as the beginning for the next chapter._**


	15. Just for the Shun of it

**_Oh man have I been looking forward to this chapter! And so has my friend Petrus, hehe. Alright guys, before you start I just wanna say one thing._**

_**There was a reviewer who as simply a guest telling me to watch the sub of Bakugan which has better material. Honestly...I disagree. I like the dub a lot better then the sub. And from what my research shows theirs only two major differences between sub and dub. Both of which are in this chapter. One of them...I used the dub version because I don't have the heart to do the sub. So deal with it. The second one I kinda did the sub but edited a little. I'll explain in the note at the end of the chapter.**_

_**With that said, I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

It was the morning after Lori, Marucho, and Runo had tried, and failed to recruit Shun. Of course, neither three had told Dan or especially Lincoln. The three of them were honestly a little afraid to admit to the two of them of their little mission. Especially since Lincoln was still in a bad mood since yesterday and was currently talking a walk to blow off steam and avoid everyone.

And currently with Dan, the Pyrus user was in his room on the computer checking the rankings on the Bakugan website. "_Dan ranked 88 out of 100._" Dan's computer said as Dan looked for himself in the top 100 players with Lincoln being right above him at 87 and even Runo and Marucho making themselves known in the leader boards with Marucho at 95 and Runo at 91.

"What? When did those two get on the board?" Dan asked himself as this was the first time he's seen those two so close to the top before. Dan then scrolled to the very top of the list and frowned at who he saw as number one. "And number one for most consecutive weeks as a jerk, Masquerade!"

Dan then scrolled down a bit and frowned again once he saw who number 6 in the world was. "Number six? Seriously Shun? You're really letting yourself go man." Dan said as Shun, who had once been number one in the world, had now dropped down to the sixth place slot with number five being some German dude and seventh being a Chinese girl.

"Dan, is it true he was number one before Masquerade came along and beat everyone?" Drago asked as he sat next to Dan's keyboard and looked up at his partner. Drago heard a lot about Shun, especially recently, but he has yet to actually ask about the boy.

"Yeah he ruled the game." Dan said with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. "Till he dropped the ball and never bothered to pick it up again."

"He no longer battles Bakugan?" Drago asked with a bit of a surprised tone.

"Yeah…" Dan quietly said as he opened his eyes as memories came back to him of his and Shun's friendship. "Shun and I used to be the best of friends. We did practically everything together. You couldn't tear us apart."

"And when Bakugan started up, we were the ones who laid down the law and wrote the rules together. He had the lead in breaking down all the moves." Dan explained as he remembered the days where he, Shun, Lincoln, Runo, Marucho, Alice, Julie, and Lori made the rules for the Bakugan game. "He was on a role…till he started pulling this disappearing act. Sometimes leaving right in the middle of a jam session."

"…What about Lincoln?" Drago decided to ask the million-dollar question. "Yesterday he was certainly…adamant on not recruiting Shun to put it lightly."

"Well, if me and Shun were best buds then those two were something else entirely." Dan explained as he crossed his arms with a frown coming to his face. "Those two were practically brothers. You would rarely ever see one without the other. They were always there for each other through thick and thin. Completely inseparable…at least…that's what we all thought."

"What happened?" The Pyrus Bakugan asked once again with a sad tone slowly coming to his voice.

"…When Shun started bailing out and avoiding everyone…Lincoln seemed to get the worse of it." Dan sadly explained with a low tone as he looked up at the ceiling of his room. "It was just so weird. It was if something changed in him when his mom was sent to the hospital…"

* * *

_In the Royal Woods Hospital, in one of the many rooms one particular patient was lying in bed, barely conscious was a woman with long black hair and green eyes. This was Shun's mother, Shiori Kazami. She was currently hooked up to a breathing device as well as a few other machines to help her. With her in the human was a doctor, a nurse, and her father._

"_Don't worry, Shun will be here shortly." Tsuguo reassured his barely conscious daughter as he stood next to her bed. "At least I was able to grab your purse for you."_

"_MOM!" Suddenly the door shot up and Shun quickly ran into the room and over to his mothers' bed. Concern and worry were easily seen on his expression as tears were building up in her eyes do to seeing the condition his mother was in…and what was about to happen. _

_Lincoln and Dan were standing in the door way, it was Dan's father that managed to rush them to the hospital. Early, Dan and Lincoln were battling Shun in Bakugan, but the Ventus user kept stalling the game. His goal was to keep the game going which would cause time to stop going forward so that way his mom wouldn't have to suffer and Shun wouldn't have to live with his grandpa and follow his house rules…which were stop doing everything he loved and hanging out with his friends and stay home to train and become a ninja warrior like him._

_When her son came to her and his voice hit her ears, she was able to barely open her eyes up and look at her little boy and give him a sweet but weak smile. "Shun…what took you so long?" Shiori asked weakly as she managed to put her hand on top of her sons. "I was…just about…to go under…thank goodness you made it." This caused Shun to gasp as the tears in his eyes threatened to leak out any second now._

"_Oh no…" Lincoln gasped with him and Dan sharing expressions of sadness of sympathy._

"_Don't worry son, your mother will be just fine." The doctor reassured the Kazami boy in a professional tone. "She's just about to enter comatose. She'll be unconscious for…I'm afraid I don't know how long, but she'll be alive."_

"_Shun…" Dan said quietly as he watched everything unfold._

"_The doctor it right Shun. I'll be fine." Shiori reassured her son as she lightly squeezed his hand. The tears were now completely falling from Shun's eyes as the 13-year-old lightly sobbed as the nurse but a hand to his shoulder. "You go home and Grandpa will take care of you."_

_This statement caused Lincoln to frown. That geezer should not be in charge of Shun. He just wants to turn Shun into himself and get rid of all of his honorary brothers' freedom. Shun could stay at his family's place…maybe. Shun could stay in the basement…its gotta be better than living under his grandfather rules, right?_

"_Here…I got something…I wanted…to give you." Despite her condition, she still couldn't help but spoil her son. "I know its what you really love Shun." Despite his tears, Shun hummed as he felt his mom put something small and round in his hand. "Now…go have some fun…"_

_Looking into his hand, Shun silently gasped as he saw that his mom had given him a Ventus Bakugan he had never seen before…_

_Ventus Skyress._

"_Shun…please…go play with your friends….and…your brother Lincoln…." Shiori said as her voice started to get weaker and weaker and her eyes started to close. "Shun….I love you…..son….." And with that, her eyes shut as she finally entered into comatose. No one being able to tell when, or even if she'll wake up._

"_Mom…." Shun said with a broken voice as he could only watch his mother sleep and weakly breath._

"_Hpmh, well that's nice and all but I'm afraid you won't be getting the chance to use it." Shun's grandpa told the boy as he managed to keep her strong and strict demeanor despite having to watch his daughter enter a coma. However, the old ninja failed to notice Lincoln gritting his teeth and tightening his fist with Dan trying to calm him down. "You will be practicing ninja moves with me. Under my house rules you will be coming home from school and staying home. None of that disappearing act, and none of that Bakugan business either."_

_Lincoln finally couldn't take it as the white-headed boy finally had one of his rare moment where he completely snapped. "HIS THAT SERIOUSLY ALL YOU CARE ABOUT?!" Lincoln yelled at the old man causing Dan to have to hold him back and for the nurse and doctor to flinch. "YOUR OWN DAUGHTER JUST ENTERED A COMA AND YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS TURNING SHUN INTO YOURSELF!"_

"_YOU THINK I'M NOT UPSET ABOUT THIS!?" Tsuguo yelled back as he glared at the Loud son while the nurse and doctor tried to calm them down.. "I'M JUST TRYING TO KEEP MYSELF TOGETHER! AND EXCUSE ME IF I DON'T WANT MY GRANDSON INVOLVED IN SUCH A TIME WASTER!"_

"_SO, YOU WAITED FOR THIS?!" Lincoln yelled back as Dan wrapped him up in a full nelson. "YOU JUST WAITED FOR HER TO GO INTO COMATOSE SO YOU COULD FORCE THIS NINJA CRAP ON HIM! NEWS FLASH YA GEEZER, NINJA'S AREN'T A THING ANYMORE!"_

"_YOU THINK I __**WANTED **__THIS TO HAPPEN?!" Shun's grandfather roared as the nurse was forced to start pulling him out of the room._

"_YOU SURE SEEM TO BE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IT!" Lincoln yelled back as Dan started to carry his friend out of the room. "HIS MOM DIDN'T WANT SHUN A PART OF THAT NINJA STUFF IN YOU FIRST PLACE AND THE SECOND SHE'S HOSPITALIZED YOU DO EXCATLY THAT! TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A SICK MOTHER LIKE THAT SHOULD BE A HELL SENTENCE FOR YOU OLD MAN!"_

_"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!" With that last bit yelled, Dan and the nurse managed to pull the two out of the room with Shun still being able to hear their yells through the closed door as the doctor put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder._

* * *

"…That is an unfortunate story." Drago said with a sympathetic tone.

"Yeah sure is." Dan said sadly as he stared off into space. "I still haven't seen him, or heard from him for that matter since then. He just moved in with his grandpa and just…disappeared. Lincoln went to see him once but…it didn't go well at all."

"And he's never touched a single Bakugan since then either. As far as I know." Dan then sighed again as he leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. "Whatever, the game won't miss some no-show has-been…"

"And neither will I."

* * *

Lincoln Loud was currently not in the best of moods. It honestly caught some people off guard who knew the boy and walked past him seeing the look of anger on his face considering Lincoln usually a pretty mild, happy, and normally pretty chill boy.

But he was still greatly upset over his friends even mentioning Shun. Especially Lori since she should now how things are between him and his ex-friend/honorary brother. At this pointed, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Shun. Considering Lincoln is rarely one to hold grudges, if at all, so one could see this was serious.

"Hey kid, you alright." Leonidas asked as he floated off his partners shoulder and in front of Lincoln's face causing the boy to stop walking and give his partner a rather irritated look. "You've been acting off since last night."

"…I'm fine." Lincoln grumbled as he tried to walk past the Darkus Bakugan only for Leonidas to once again float in front of Lincoln again causing the white-haired boy to get more irritated then he already was.

"Kid, come on. I know you. You're not fooling anyone." Leonidas continued on as Lincoln let out a huff of annoyance. "Come on, give me that goofy Lincoln smile." Lincoln wasn't in any mood for this as he narrowed his eyes harshly at his partner. "Seesh, nevermind. Do you at least wanna talk about it? What's your beef with this Shun dude?"

"Nothing." Lincoln said harshly as he walked past his partner once more. "I have nothing to say about that jerk. I want nothing to do with him and that's final."

"Are you sure about that?"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Leonidas, but surprisingly not Lincoln, screamed as a voice suddenly came up close to them. Turning around, Leonidas saw the goth girl Haiku standing behind them with a concerned look on her face. "HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!"

Haiku ignored Leonidas's loud question and putting a hand on Lincoln's shoulder with the Loud boy being aware of her presence but not turning to face her. "Lincoln, I've never seen you like this before." Haiku had decided to talk a stroll through the park today to search for inspiration when she had saw Lincoln also taking a stroll today. At first she was happy about this considering she's been feeling…things about the Loud boy recently. But once she got a closer look at Lincoln's expression as well as his aura she quickly grew concerned as she's never ever seen Lincoln in this kinda mood before. "What's wrong?"

"…Nothing…" Lincoln lied as while his mood did soften a bit when the goth girl came up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Just…thinking about someone I thought was my friend."

Lincoln was then about to walk away around only for a pair of arms to wrap around him from behind and pull him close with a familiar head pressing against the back of his. "Lincoln please…talk to me." Haiku quietly pleaded to him in a soft and caring tone Lincoln's never heard from the goth girl that caused him to freeze and his face to slowly go red. "You're always allowing others to talk to you to solve their problems, so talk to me so I can help."

Lincoln heart started beating faster as Haiku asked this. Shun was…an incredibly touchy subject for him. Talking about might help but it would also bring up some sore memories. Just then Haiku's partner Kabukito floated up to Lincoln's face and told the Loud boy. "Only if you face your demons, will you be able to combat them. And sharing them to others, will allow them to lend their aid."

After hearing the Kabuki Bakugan's wise words, Lincoln finally sighed as he lowered his head. "…alright…"

* * *

_Lincoln was breathing heavily as he was more exhausted then he's ever been in his life. He was on his bike with bruises and a few cuts covering his body and his cloths having some dirt and quite a bit of sweat on them. _

_However, despite exhaustion and fatigue coming over the Loud boy, he kept on riding through the woods with one destination in mind. Shun's grandfather's dojo. Its been about two months since Shun's mother had fallen into comatose and since then Lincoln hasn't seen or even heard a thing from the Kazami boy since that event and him moving in with his grandfather._

_Despite his grandfather's rules, Lincoln was sure Shun would still try and find a way to get outside to spend sometime with his friends and play Bakugan…but no. To say Lincoln missed Shun was an understatement. He'd been friends with Shun practically since he was born and the two were so close they would call each other brothers. And with Lincoln have so many sisters, it was a relationship he treasured._

_Lincoln then tried the next best things. Contacting Shun. It may not have been face to face, but at least he could talk to Shun. However, all of Lincoln's video chat request, phone calls, text were all simply unanswered and ignored. Lincoln even tried to send letters to Shun, but all of them were simply sent back to him unopened. _

_It was at that point that Lincoln was really started to get both worried and…a little irritated. What was Shun's deal? Why didn't he want to talk to Lincoln? They were best friends, __**brothers**__. Why wouldn't he at least talk to him?_

_So, at this point, Lincoln decided to take drastic measures…go to Shun in person. But he didn't want any of his family to take him and possible pressure Shun into coming out since he knew how they can be and quickly turn even the simplest situations and problems into chaos. So, he had to go it alone. Just him and Shun._

_So he took his bike and made the incredibly long journey to the Kazami dojo._

_A journey was that was finally nearing its end._

"_Finally…made it…oh gosh…" Lincoln said as he collapsed a few yards away from the doors that led to Shun's dojo. Saying he was sore was the understatement was the century as he could somehow not feeling his body, yet feel sore everywhere at the same time. Where was logic when he needed it?_

_Lincoln groaned as he decided to lay down in the dirt for a little bit to rest. The dojo wasn't going anywhere and nearly all his strength was gone. He had sustained bruises from the occasional wipe outs and falling off. He also had a few cuts and tears in his cloths due to having to boke through a thick part of the woods at one point with a few branches managing to get one up on him._

_But it was all worth it in the end as he finally managed to stand up off the ground, wincing as he did so. Once on his aching feet again, Lincoln managed to limp his way to the large wooden gates of the dojo and weakly raised up his hand to knock on it as hard as he could. "SHUN!" Lincoln called out to loudly._

…

_No response. _

"_SHUN! ITS ME! LINCOLN!" Lincoln called out again, trying to push the dojo doors open but to no avail. "I CAME HERE TO VISIT YOU! PLEASE OPEN UP!"_

…

_Once again, Lincoln got no response. He sighed as he lowered his head. Did he come when no one was home? How long before they came back? Was he just supposed to camp out here or-_

"_GO AWAY!" Suddenly Lincoln's eyes snapped open as he rose his head and frown. That was Shun…but…he told him to go away._

"_Wh-What…" Lincoln let out, no sure how to respond to Shun saying that to him. "Sh-Shun-"_

"_I SAID GO AWAY LINCOLN!" Shun's voice yelled on the other side of the dojo's walls causing Lincoln to flinch at the words he was using. "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE!"_

"_B-But Shun…" Lincoln let out in a sadden voice as storm clouds started to fill the sky. "I-I thought we-"_

"_WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER ANYMORE SO DROP IT!" Shun yelled back causing Lincoln to fall on his butt on the ground. "I DON'T WANNA TALK TO YOU AND I DON'T WANNA SEE YOU SO JUST BEAT IT!"_

_Lincoln was to stunned and shocked to say anything. Shun…Shun was telling him he didn't want to see her hear from Lincoln again. But…they were best friends…brothers…_

_Lincoln could do nothing but let tears start to fall from his eyes as rain started falling from the sky. _

_What Lincoln failed to see on the other side of the dojo walls was Shun punching the wall with tears going down his own eyes. "Just go…" Shun croaked out in a broken tone that Lincoln could hear. "You don't need me holding you back anymore…" These words being the hardest thing Shun has ever had to do before._

* * *

"So, I decided, if that guy wanted nothing to do with me, I wanted nothing to do with him." Lincoln finished explaining to Haiku. "After everything we've been through, he just…I get that he had to live under his grandpa's rules now but he didn't even put up a fight and when I reached out for him…he just left me. All Shun seems to know how to know how to do these days is bailing out on others. He bailed on the Brawlers, he bailed on his friends, he bailed on Dan…and he bailed on me."

"…I'm terribly sorry Lincoln." Haiku said with nothing but sympathy and sadness in her voice at hearing the story. She was starting to be glad she forgot to put on massacre today but she was started to have to resist tears coming to her eyes. "I had no idea…"

"I just thought…we really had an unbreakable bond." Lincoln said in a saddened tone as he looked at the ground, his hands gripping his jeans and his breathing becoming shaky as memories of him and his honorary brother came to him. "Remember my friend Ronnie Anne?"

"…Yes." Haiku said as a Haiku put on a creepily wide smile that one could tell from the other side of the planet was fake with Haiku speaking through her teeth. Despite the situation, she remembered a few times when Lucy would speak of Lincoln Latina friend and how…close the two were. And considering how much closer she and Lincoln had become the mention of Ronnie Anne sparked a bit of jealously in her.

"Well…after…something involving her…" Lincoln nervously explained as he didn't quite wanna tell Haiku about the time he…kissed Ronnie Anne. Keeping that information to himself was for the best considering how he's been feeling around Haiku recently. So, he just told her what she needed to hear. "So, it was after I…_confronted _Ronnie Anne in my front yard Shun came over soon after and explained that he ran into her and…"

* * *

_Ronnie Anne was currently walking home with an uncontrollable blush on her face. The source of this blush was caused by the boy Ronnie Anne has been bullying recently, Lincoln Loud. The Loud boy had told her to come over to his house to he could actually stand up to the young Santiago and what does he do? He kisses her!_

_The Latina's first instinct was of course to punch him in the eye and leave him with a black eye and leave. However, as she rubbed the cheek the Loud boy had kissed…she had to admit. It felt nice. And Lincoln was rather cute. She would be lying if she said that at least a small part of her bullying of him was to get his attention._

_Maybe she should go back and apologize? Not in person of course, that would ruin her tough girl image. But maybe just throw him a note and steak for his eye that would be-_

"_Hey!" Ronnie Anne was cute from her train of thought by a voice coming from behind her. Looking, she saw none other then Shun Kazami standing behind her with a not to happy looking on his face. "So, you're the one that's been with Lincoln lately huh?"_

_Ronnie Anne quickly put on her tough girl face and stood her ground against Shun. "What of it?" She aggressively asked as she put her hands in her hoodie pockets. "Got something you wanna say?" She wasn't about to be intimidated by some ninja wanna be._

_Shun was silent as he narrowed his eyes at the Latina girl and started walking towards her. Ronnie Anne started getting annoyed as she made fist in her pockets. If this guy tried anything then was gonna get a knuckle sandwich for lunch. Shun the stopped as he was right in front of Ronnie Anne and looked down on her and looked her right in the eye. "Now I'm gonna say this nice and clear so you understand." Shun told her with a bit of threatening in his tone. "You better leave Lincoln alone. Or else."_

"_Oh yeah?" Ronnie Anne challenged as she started taking her right fist out of her pocket. "Or what?!" Ronnie Anne then threw her right hook, attempting to hit this guys eye similar to Lincoln…only for Shun to effortlessly catch her fist. "Wh-What-"_

_Ronnie Anne was cut off as Shun lifted her clean off the ground and threw her over his shoulder and slammed her down back first into the side walk. Ronnie Anne screamed in pain as her back met the concrete as Shun looked down at her with a fierce glare. "I think I got my point across."_

* * *

'_Heh, serves her right.' _ Haiku thought with a satisfied smile on her face once Lincoln finished the story. "It sounds like you two were always there for each other."

"Yeah…we _were_.' Lincoln said with an angry huff as he leaned back on the bench he and Haiku were sitting on.

Haiku frowned and sighed in response at what Lincoln said. She could tell he was still hurting about this…but she could also tell that he missed Shun dearly. "Maybe…you should try to see him again." Haiku suggested causing Lincoln's eyes to widen.

"What?" Lincoln gasped out as he shot up in his seat.

"She's right." Kabukito said as she hopped onto Haiku's lap. "I can sense that you still yearn to get your friendship and brotherhood back. You'll never be able to balance your spirit and become whole if you allow this to hold you back from reconnecting with you."

"I…I don't know guys…" Lincoln said as he looked down at the ground and actually thought about the option. "Shun made it clear that he wants nothing to do with nobody…even me…so why should I even bother with that jerk."

Lincoln then felt a hand placed on top of his and looked to see Haiku giving him a sad look that made him flinch a little. "Lincoln…I don't like seeing you like this." Haiku told the boy as his cheeks went a little pink. "This isn't you. Holding grudges. Being angry. This just isn't who you are. You're about fixing these types of problems and bring people together."

"…" Lincoln was silent as she spoke. Haiku was honestly right. He couldn't count the amount of times he's solved others arguments and problems just because he wanted to help. Yes, he got angry, but he never truly held it against anyone unless they deserved it like with Chandler or Hank and Hawk. He then felt Haiku give his hand a light squeeze.

"Please…promise me you'll give him another change?" Haiku asked him as she gave the Loud boy a tiny but adorable smile.

"…" Lincoln continued not to say anything, but the looks and words Haiku was giving him really made him consider. He…He really did miss Shun. A lot. But…could he stand the possibilities of being rejected and losing him once and for all?

Before he could think more about it, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out and saw he had a text from Dan.

**Dan – Come on…we're going to see him.**

* * *

Lincoln and Dan were now sitting in Marucho's family private aircraft as Kato flew them to Shun's dojo. Dan and Lincoln were currently giving Runo and Marucho, who were sitting across from them, rather angry and irritated looks.

Not to long ago, Dan was hanging out in Runo's restaurant totally not watching Alice as she worked along with Marucho joining him there so he'd have someone to talk to. However, when Runo asked for Marucho's help getting some flour, Preyas took the opportunity to squeal about his partner's as well as Runo and Lori's little trip to go get Shun.

As soon as Dan found out he quickly texted Lincoln about it…as well as saying it was about time they go see Shun after all this time whether he liked it or not. Lincoln's first thought was to refuse and not go…but his talk with Haiku managed to get him to at least give it a chance. But he wasn't making any promises of going back to being buddy-buddy with Shun.

And he was gonna have one heck of a talk with Lori when he got back.

"So…you haven't decided yet have you?" Skyress asked as she and Shun were currently in the storage shed of his dojo where they could be alone and simply talk. Shun was still contemplating on whether or not he should join back up with the Brawlers.

"All I know is that I will battle Dan. Once I defeat him, I will decide whether or not to keep playing Bakugan." Shun told his Ventus partner.

"And Lincoln?" Skyress asked, noting how Shun left him out. Shun didn't say anything in response as Skyress spoke up again. "I think I know why you don't want to connect with him again…you're scared." Skyress words caused Shun to lightly gasp and look at his partner with a small amount of surprise on his face. "You're scared that if you connect with him, connect with your brother again…that you'll only end up losing him or separating from him again somehow. And you just wouldn't be able to take another lose in your life."

Before Shun could answer, the door to the shed was suddenly opened. When Shun looked back to see who it was…he saw it wasn't his grandfather.

Lincoln and Dan could now be seen walking through the gardens of Shun's dojo. Them as well as Runo and Marucho had landed not too long ago and quickly made their way to the dojo. Dan and Lincoln made it inside by climbing over the walls and remembering where the traps were set due to being here before. However, when Runo and Marucho climb beyond the walls they ended up falling into a pit trap.

"Careful you two, there might be trouble afoot." Drago warned them as he felt something wasn't quite right with the area.

"Yeah, this place gives me the creeps." Leonidas commented as he looked around the area before them.

Just then the two heard footsteps behind them and lightly gasped and quickly turned around to see Shun himself walking into the gardens with his head down, a thoughtful look on his face. Lincoln alright felt his fist tighten and his breathing get a bit heavy at seeing the Kazami boy after so long and after everything's that's happen.

"Shun!" Dan called out to the Ventus Brawlers causing Lincoln to flinch and for Shun to silently gasp and look up."

"Dan." Shun said as he looked up and saw the Pyrus user. The young ninja's eyes then wandered to the left…and saw Lincoln. "…Lincoln…."

"Shun…." Lincoln said as he locked eyes with his old friend.

"Its…been awhile…" Shun said rather awkwardly as he honestly didn't know what to say or rather even how to face Lincoln after all this time and after what he said when Lincoln actually tried to visit him.

"Uh-huh….." Lincoln replied dully, still not to enthusiastic about all this. However, it was at this point that Lincoln couldn't hold it in any as he tightened his fist and finally snapped at Shun. "SO WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM HUH?!"

"What?" Shun asked as he flinched a tiny bit with even Dan back a little way from Lincoln.

"Woah, calm down dude." Dan pleaded to his friend, only being ignored in response.

"Why did you just shut me out like that and tell me to get lost?!" Lincoln demanded to know as Shun started to tighten his own fist. "I pedaled for hours on my bike to get here! I fell over a dozen times! Got scratched by branches! And I didn't stop! Because I wanted to see you! I wanted to see my brother again!"

"I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER!" Shun snapped as soon as Lincoln was done talking. The Loud boy paled out when Shun said this and started to lightly tremble. "W-Wait…I-I didn't-"

"Dude, what is your problem?!" Dan yelled as he quickly put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder for support.

"_Hahahaha! Problem in paradise boys?"_

Dan and Lincoln flinched and gasped. They knew that voice all to well at this point. Suddenly, walking up from behind Shun…was Masquerade.

"Masquerade?!" Dan yelled as Lincoln was stunned silent. "What are you doing here?!"

"Oh? You didn't tell them about our little business arrangement?" Masquerade asked Shun with a devilish smirk on his face. "I'm hurt Shun, I didn't think you'd keep secrets from your friends, let alone your own brother. But then again, it seems that may not be the case, so how about we just eliminate them, right here and now?"

"Shun! What's he talking about?!" Dan demanded to know as Lincoln started gritting his teeth and his face started to go red with anger.

"…" Shun didn't say a thing…and held up the Doom Card in between his fingers.

"You…You can't be serious Shun?!" Dan yelled in shock at seeing Shun holding the card all of Masquerade's lackies used.

"Kid…are you ok?" Leonidas asked Lincoln after he saw the state the boy was in.

"Shun...why..." Lincoln managed to croak out as his breathing got rapid.

"Hahahaha! Oh, whats wrong Lincoln?" Masquerade laughed with a tone of pure mocking. "You had no problem beating your older sister into the ground, how is this any different?"

"...damn...you..." Lincoln said through his teeth with pure rage plastered on his face.

"Lincoln?" Dan said in concern over his friend. Lincoln swearing was something incredibly rare. The only other time he's heard it was at the hospital during the day where Shun's mom went into a coma.

"So Shun, how about we get things started?" When Masquerade asked this, Shun raised up his Doom Card…and threw it. Dan gasped as he pulled Lincoln out of the way with Shun's throwing skills causing he card to aim right at the stone statue right next to the two boys and once it connected, the card actually broke apart the statue. Masquerade wasn't to happy to see this as he turned to Shun and said. "Didn't you…hear me?"

"I play this game solo." Shun told Masquerade as Dan and Lincoln stood back up. "So don't think you're the boss of me. Because you're not."

"Not your smartest decision Shun." The masked Brawler told the Ventus user. "But I respect it. That leaves me with only one choice. To bring Dan and Lincoln down myself."

"Here's a better idea!" Lincoln yelled as he held up his own field card after seeing Masquerade bring his out. "You two vs me and Dan!"

"Yeah! I'm game!" Dan agreed as he pulled out his own field card.

"Your time has come Masquerade!" Drago yelled, fully prepared to fight.

"Get ready to be ripped to shreds!" Leonidas growled viciously.

"Two vs two huh?" Masquerade asked with a smirk. "What do you say Shun?"

"Hmph." Shun's only response was him pulling out his field card.

"Good answer." Masquerade said as everyone rose up their field cards.

"**Field Open!**" They all said in unison as Dan's card glowed red, Shun's glowed green, and Masquerade and Lincoln's glowed purple. Time came to a stop as the Bakugan field opened for the four.

"**Doom Card set.**" Masquerade's did his usual first move of dropping the Doom Card onto the field.

"**Gate Card set!**" Everyone then threw their gate cards onto the field with Dan's landing in front of Masquerade, Lincoln's landing in front of Shun, Shun's landing in front of Lincoln, and Masquerade's landing in front of Dan.

Masquerade was the first to go as he loaded up a Darkus Bakugan into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Masquerade then shot out his Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Laserman Stand!" Now standing on Masquerade's gate card was a Bakugan that resembled a robot with two laser canons mounted on each shoulder.

"_Battle begins._" The Baku-pod announced as it showed the data on Laserman. "_Darkus Laserman enters at 3-7-0 G's. Awaiting opponent."_

"Alright, my turn now." Dan said as he equipped his own launcher and loaded a Pyrus Bakugan into it. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan shot the Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Pyrus Stinglash Stand!" With a bug-like hiss, Dan's Stinglash came into battle.

Lincoln growled a little as he loaded up his launcher and aimed it at Shun's gate card. "Shun's mine. Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then shot the Bakugan towards Shun's gate card. "Darkus Siege stand!" With a twirl of its saber, Lincoln's Darkus Siege came into battle.

"Ha, bad move their kid." Masquerade said as he rose up an ability card. "**Ability Activate: Leap Sting!**" Lasermans visor then glowed green as the top half of its body turned around 180 degrees and aimed one of its shoulder cannons at Stinglash and the other at Siege.

"Oh no!" Dan gasped as Laserman started to shoot purple energy blast at his and Lincoln's Bakugan from across the field.

"Siege!" Lincoln called out for in concern as his Bakugan sustained heavy fire.

"You like that?" Masquerade asked with a cruel smirk on his face. "Leap Sting is a unique ability that lets Laserman attack any Bakugan on the field and take away 50 points from their power level. Lincoln and Dan could only watch as the portal to the Doom Dimension opened and sucked Siege and Stinglash in. Trapping them for all eternity.

"No! He sent them both to the Doom Dimension at once!" Dan growled as he tightened his fist and Lincoln took some deep breathes to control himself over seeing his Siege get sent to the Doom Dimension.

"So that's the…Doom Dimension?" Shun asked with his voice having a little bit of fear in it as Laserman glowed and return to Masquerade's hand in ball form.

"Yes." Skyress confirmed as she floated next to Shun. "Once a Bakugan has been sent there it can never return. It's the place we fear the most Shun." Shun hummed in response as Skyress turned to her partner. "Knowing this do you still want to continue Shun?"

Shun was silent for a moment before giving a hard nod and picking up a Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Shun then threw the Ventus Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Monarus Stand!"

Masquerade smirked as Shun entered the battle and loaded up his launcher again. "Bakugan Brawl!" Masquerade then shot the Bakugan towards his own gate card. "Reaper Stand!" Now on Masquerade's Gate Card was the Darkus Reaper that Lincoln and Dan know all too well.

"Heads up kids." Reaper said in a threatening tone as Leonidas and Drago growled.

"Alright Dan, I'll handle Monarus, you try and take down Reaper." Lincoln said as he loaded up his launcher again. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then shot his Bakugan towards Shun's gate card. "Ravenoid Stand!" With a loud bird-like cry, Darkus Ravenoid flew up to Monarus and stared it down.

"Alright then, I think I have an idea. **Gate Card set!**" Dan then threw down a new gate card right next to the card Reaper was on. "Bakugan Brawl!" Dan quickly shot a Bakugan out towards this new card. "Garganoid Stand!" At 320 G's, Dan's Garganoid appeared in the battle from a flaming vortex.

Shun nodded once Dan made his move and then looked towards Lincoln. "Sorry Lincoln, but a battle a battle!" Shun said as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card open: Mine Ghost!**"

"What?!" Lincoln yelled as the card started to glow, ready to take out both Monarus and Ravenoid.

"Now then, **Ability Activate!**" Shun then quickly activated an ability before Mine Ghost could be completed. "**Air Battle!**" Monarus suddenly flew high above its gate card and even leaving the area of it and flying around the field as the Mine Ghost went off only claiming Ravenoid.

"But…how'd he do that?" Lincoln quietly asked as Ravenoid landed at his feet.

"It's a wind attribute ability." Drago started explaining as Monarus flew around the battlefield in circles. "It allows Monarus to take off and fly beyond the cards below."

"That's not all." Shun added on as Monarus landed on Garganoid's card. "When in Air Battle mode, you're gate card won't open Dan." With Monarus at 330 G's, 10 more then Garganoid, the butterfly Bakugan wrapped both of its legs around Garganoid and proceeded to spin around rapidly before letting go of Garganoid and kicking it hard with momentum adding into the force of the attack sending the Pyrus Bakugan back to ball form and at Dan's feet. Once that was done, Monarus returned to Shun's hand with now only Masquerade's got card with Reaper on it and Lincoln's empty gate card remaining on the field.

"We we're both taken out. Again." Dan said through his teeth as now it was Shun and Masquerade still with six Bakugan and them with only Drago and Leonidas.

"We can't afford another lose Dan." Lincoln said as he considered his options. All things considered…things weren't looking good for them.

"You're not saying we give up are you?" Leonidas asked his partner as he floated up to his face.

"Well…" Lincoln struggled to say as he lowered his head. "Leonidas…I…I just…I can't lose you to…"

"…Kid." Leonidas said in a surprisingly soft tone that no ones ever heard from the Bakugan before. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine. I promise." Leonidas then floated into Lincoln's hand and looked up at his partner. "Come on, let's finished what we started."

Lincoln was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodded. Gripped Leonidas tightly, Lincoln loaded up his partner into his launcher. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then shot Leonidas towards his own gate card. "Leondias Stand!"

"ALRIGHT! BRING IT ON!" Leondias roared as he slammed a fist against the ground causing a small earthquake that shook the entire field.

"Woah…" Shun let out as he looked up at the Darkus dragon. Shun's eyes widened a little bit as he saw Leonidas power level of 400.

"Alright, you want it so bad then here! **Gate Card set!**" Masquerade said as he threw a gate card down next to Leonidas's gate card and in front of the gate card Reaper was on. "Bakugan Brawl! Laserman Stand!" Masquerade then proceeded to send in his Darkus Laserman once more.

"Alright Drago, its time to end this once and for all!" Dan yelled as he loaded Drago up into his launcher.

"You can count on me partner!" Drago reassured the Pyrus Brawler.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Dan then sent Drago out to face down with Reaper. "Drago Stand!" With the mightiest roar he could muster, Drago was unleashed in front of Reaper and glared at the Darkus Bakugan fiercely.

"En Garde Reaper!" Drago yelled at his Darkus opponent.

"Get ready to meet your maker Drago!" Reaper retorted as he gripped his scythe tightly.

"**Gate Card open!**" Masquerade commanded with two raised fingers. "**Third Judgement!**"

"Get ready for the Doom Dimension my friend." Reaper mocked as the gate card glowed and Drago was trapped by purple lightning. "The Third Judgement card will assure you have an unpleasant voyage there!"

"This is it! Our moment of victory! Don't you feel it Shun?" Masquerade said to the Ventus Brawler who simply had his eyes closed and his calm and collected still on his face.

"Sorry…but I play solo." Shun said as he dropped down a gate card next to Reaper's gate card and under Leonidas's card. "Bakugan Brawl! Monarus Stand!" Once again, Shun's Monarus came onto the battlefield.

"Alright. Time to clean house." Masquerade said with a smirk as he loaded up his launcher with his final Darkus Bakugan. "Bakugan Brawl!" Everyone then watched as Masquerade sent a completely new Bakugan towards the Third Judgement gate card.

"I got a bad feeling about this…" Lincoln said as this new Bakugan seemed to bring about a great sense of unease despite still being in ball form.

And then…the Bakugan stood…

"_Hydranoid Stand!"_

Suddenly, with a bright purple glow, a Bakugan came onto the field that could bring even the bravest of men the feeling of feel. The Bakugan stood on all fours, had a long neck and a tail with a sharps spike coming out of it. His head had razor sharp teeth with his upper jaw have three long purple teeth jetting out of it. He had pink spines running from the middling of his neck to the end of his tail along with pink horns on his nose as well as red eyes.

"Grrr, stop ignoring me!" Leonidas yelled as so far both Masquerade and Shun were completely blowing him off and avoiding a battle with him.

"Two against one." Drago gasped as the two Darkus Bakugan glared fiercely at him.

"No way!" Shun let out as he checked Hydranoid's power level on his Baku-pod.

"_Hydranoid at 4-5-0 G's." _The Baku-pod revealed Hydranoids extremely high-power level.

"You gotta be kidding me?!" Dan yelled in amazement and fear over this Bakugan's power.

"Still, not the highest power level we've seen…" Lincoln quietly muttered as memories of Marduk and his Bakugan Vladitor came into his head. Hydranoid was certainly strong, but Vladitor was something else with a base power level of 550.

"Afraid yet human?" Hydranoid spoke as his red eye focused on Drago and the two humans in front of him. "I am the most powerful Bakugan ever. I have no limit to my strength. I feed off the Bakugan I send to the Doom Dimension. Just as I'll feed open your precious Drago and Leonidas."

"Over my dead body!" Leonidas yelled from his gate card. He'd be damned if he let himself be sent back to _that_ place.

"That ends now Hydranoid!" Drago roared powerfully.

"**Ability Activate: Boosted Dragon!**" Dan quickly activated Drago's ability raising up Drago's power to 440 G's. Drago quickly shot the fireball at Hydranoid causing the Darkus Bakugan to be engulfed by the flames. "Bullseye!"

"This is revenge for all the Bakugan you've sent to the Doom Dimension!" Drago yelled as he watched his flames engulf Hydranoid.

"Hahahaha!" Dan and Drago heard laughing from inside the flames. "Is that the best you can do?" Hydranoid then lifted his head up and let out a loud and powerful roar which caused the flames around him to completely vanish. Dan and Drago gasped as Hydranoid was completely unaffected by the attack and turned around and was preparing to swing his tail and Drago and sent the Pyrus Bakugan to the Doom Dimension. "Bon voyage Drago!"

"Drago no!" Dan called out for his friend as Drago roared.

"**Ability Card Activate!**" Suddenly, before Hydranoid could attack, Shun quickly pulled out an ability card. "**Crimson Twister!**" Monarus then glowed as it sent a powerful gust of wing from its wing towards Drago causing the Pyrus Bakugan to be lifted up from the third judgement card and onto the card it was on. "Attack now!" Monarus followed its orders and proceeded to kick Drago in the face, but all this did was cause him to grunt and Drago simply slapped Monarus away with his tail and causing the Ventus Bakugan to go back to ball form and land at Shun's feet.

"He…saved Drago…" Lincoln silently muttered as Drago glowed and was sent back to Dan's hand in ball form.

"Shun, you're Monarus…" Dan let out, equally surprised as Lincoln about what Shun did. "You sacrificed her."

"…" Shun was silent as he simply stared at Dan.

"That's only one down humans!" Reaper yelled as he looked down at Lincoln and Dan. "Next time you won't get so lucky! Your pathetic pet lizards don't stand a chance against me! Now, let's end this right-"

_**SLASH!**_

Dan, Lincoln and Shun froze as their mouths started to slowly gap open at that they saw. Hydranoid…attacked Reaper…his teammates. With a powerful swipe of his tail, Hydranoid slashed Reaper across his chest. What result was a long deep cut that drew blood that went from the below Reapers neck to just above his stomach.

"W-W-W-W-What…" Reaper said as he used one hand to clench his injury and the other to reach out to Masquerade. "W-W-W-W-Why…..Why…me….."

"Because, with Third Judgement only one can survive." Masquerade answered with a cruel tone and smirk.

"Then that means…" Lincoln said in a horrified tone as he realized what Masquerade was planning. "You meant to send Reaper to the Doom Dimension from the start!"

"Heh, I don't need you anymore." Masquerade told Reaper bluntly with a laugh as Shun gritted his teeth at the masked brawler.

"Masquerade!" Reaper yelled as he was started to be sucked into the Doom Dimension. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Reaper was then almost completely sucked in through the portal, only his arm sticking out now when-

"NOT SO FAST!"

Suddenly, managing to reached out beyond gate card, Leonidas grabbed Reapers hand and prevented him from being completely submerged in the doom portal. "What?!" Masquerade gasped out with a surprised look.

"…Leonidas." Lincoln gasped out as Dan and Shun watched with widened eyes.

"Not! On! My! Watch!" Leonidas roared as his muscles suddenly bulked out similar to when he used the Demonic Dragon ability. At this point…Reaper was started to successfully be pulled free.

"Wh-What?" Reaper weakly said as his head was pulled free. "What are-"

"JUST SHUT UP AND HOLD STILL!" Leonidas roared as he proceeded to pull more and more of Reaper free and, "**ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!**" With a mighty roar and show of strength, Leonidas completely pulled Reaper free of the Doom Dimensions grasp.

"But…how?" Masquerade silently asked as Reaper landed on Leonidas gate card with Leonidas still tightly gripping Reaper's wrist.

"Why…" Reaper weakly asked. "Why would…you save me…"

"Because, if anyone's gonna take you down, I rather it be me." Leonidas glowed as he started to glow purple.

'_Its happening again.' _Lincoln thought as he remembered when he fought Lynn, Leondias somehow started glowing and his power surged. He didn't question it at the time but now he was really wondering what this way.

"No then…" Leonidas then roared again as he threw Reaper right towards Laserman on the opposing gate card causing Reaper to crash into the other Darkus Bakugan and send them both to the ground. "That's how you take out the trash." Leonidas, Reaper, and Laserman then all glowed purple with Leonidas going back to Lincoln's hand and Reaper and Laserman landing at Masquerade's feet.

"Leonidas…you saved Reaper." Lincoln said in an amazed and surprised towards his partner.

"Yeah well, we're the good guys, right?" Leonidas asked his partner in a casual tone. "Its what we do?"

'_How did he do that?' _Masquerade thought as he looked down at his two defeated Bakugan, mainly Reaper. '_No Bakugan should be able to pull others free from the Doom Dimensions grasp…yet Leonidas somehow managed to do it, and from a different gate card. Hmmm, maybe Marduk was right. There is more to this Bakugan then meets the eye. Well no matter, it doesn't matter to me whether Reaper stays or goes. Once he has to face my Hydranoid again, both Leonidas and Drago will be sent to the Doom Dimension with no one to save them.'_

"Alright, now where tied up with Masquerade." Dan said with a smirk on his face as he pulled out a gate card. "And if I'm right about something…then everything's gonna work out." Dan then threw down his gate card making it the only card on the field.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked as he had no idea what Dan was talking about.

"Just trust me man." Dan told Lincoln before taking Drago in his hand. "You with me Drago?"

"Of course." Drago assured his partner as he closed up into a ball.

Dan then loaded up Drago into his launcher and quickly shot him out. "Bakugan Brawl! Drago Stand!" With Boosted Dragon still giving Drago a 100 G boost, Drago came onto the battlefield with flames surrounding him.

"Get ready Shun," Masquerade told the Ventus user who was simply glaring at Masquerade. "You're about to witness the true power of Hydranoid. Bakugan Brawl!" Masquerade then shot out said Bakugan towards the only gate card on the field. "Hydranoid Stand!"

"Prepare yourself Drago!" Hydranoid roared as he and Drago faced off against each other. "The Doom Dimension awaits you!"

"Not today Hydranoid!" Drago roared back as Dan held his hand out.

"**Gate Card Open: Quartet Battle!**" Dan commanded as his gate card glowed and responded to Dan's opening.

"Go get em Leonidas!" Lincoln cheered on as Leonidas was automatically sent to Drago's side.

"Time to bust your skull Hydranoid!" Leonidas said as he cracked his kunckles.

"And now we're only missing one more teammate." Dan said with a smirk as Lincoln gasped as he knew what Dan meant. This was his plan?!

"Heh, how cute." Masquerade said with a cruel smirk as he turned his head to simply glance at Shun. "Danny and Linky think they can team up with you to defeat me."

"Well?" Skyress asked, already having a good feeling of what Shun was about to say.

'_Heh, this'll be a cake walk.' _Masquerade thought as he kept his ability cards at the ready. '_If they decided to blindside me, I can simply play my fusion ability on top of my ability to assure my win. They'll be in the Doom Dimension in no time.'_

"Skyress, listen up." Shun told his partner Bakugan with his arms crossed. "Its time to join the battle."

"Done." Skyress instantly agreed.

Masquerade hummed as he heard that and looked to Shun and gasped when he saw that the Ventus Brawler now had a green aura around him that raised up his hair with winds surrounding the young ninja that caused the masked brawler to be pushed back. "Masquerade! I've had enough of your games!" Shun yelled while giving a fierce glare to Masquerade. "You just use people and destroy there Bakugan!"

"Alright!" Dan cheered as it looks like everything was coming together.

"Shun…" Lincoln silently muttered as Shun took Skyress into his hand.

"Bakugan Brawl!" Shun then threw Skyress towards the Quartet Battle gate card. "Ventus Skyress Descend!" Dan, Lincoln, and Masquerade all watched as storm clouds appeared in the sky of the battlefield. A green light then shined down as Skyress descended down from the clouds and onto the battle. Only on Dan and Lincoln's side.

"Nice to have you back Shun!" Skyress cheered as she flew down next to her Pyrus and Darkus allies. "Now let's get busy!"

"Alright! Everyone ready?" Dan asked with Shun and Lincoln nodding their heads.

"Welcome to the party Skyress." Hydranoid said, not the least bit intimidated by the three Bakugan in front of him. "To bad you won't be around long enough to enjoy it."

"**Ability Activate!**" Masquerade said as he threw the ability card into the sky. "**Chaos…of the…Darkness!**"

Storm clouds once again covered the sky, but unlike the ones Skyress appeared from, these ones were much more foreboding as a purple lightning bolt came down and struck Hydranoid. Masquerade's Bakugan orb as he started shooting purple orbs out of his mouth at the three opposing Bakugan with Leonidas blocking with his arms, Drago grunting as he narrowly dodged one and Skyress using her agility to dodge the ones that came her way.

"**Ability Activate: Fire Wall!**" Dan threw the ability card towards Drago causing barrier of flames to surround him and dropping Hydranoid's G power by 50.

Hydranoid growled as he fired more orbs at Drago only for the wall of fire to block it. "ITS NOT WORKING!" Hydranoid roared as suddenly power surged through his body uncontrollably as purple lightning sparked out of Hydranoid's body and spread through out the battlefield and shaking it greatly.

Suddenly the card in Masquerade's hand was struck by the purple electricity being released from Hydranoid and destroyed it. "What's going on?!" Lincoln yelled as Hydranoid started firing orbs aimlessly across the field.

"Duck and cover!" Leonidas yelled as he dodged an orb that came his way.

"Well what do you know." Masquerade said with his usual smirk ever present on his face. "My Hydranoid is evolving. All thanks to you three."

"He's what?!" Dan yelled toward the masked brawler.

"We can't take much more of this!" Drago said as his firewall was started to get worn down from taking blow after blow. Just then one more shot came in and completely destroyed the fire wall.

"Drago look out!" Dan warned his partner as another shot came the Pyrus Bakugan's way with no way to protect him.

Drago gasped as the shot was mere yards away from him…when he was pushed out of the way.

_**BOOOOOOOOM!**_

Lincoln froze as he felt his heart stop at seeing who the attack claimed at its victim.

"LEONIDAS!" Drago yelled as he looked at the area covered in smoke that he was pushed out of.

"Oh no…" Shun let out as he saw the look on Lincoln's face.

When the smoke cleared, it showed Leonidas had taken the hit for Drago. His chest had a big burn mark and the Bakugan was letting out heavy but weak breathes. "LEONIDAS!" Lincoln yelled as tears started to build in his eyes. "PLEASE! LEONIDAS! YOU HAVE TO STAY STRONG!"

"Lincoln…" Leonidas weakly said as he managed to turn his head to his partner, his eyes appearing weak. "…..I'm….sorry…." With a loud thud, Leonidas fell to the ground.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lincoln screamed at the top of his lungs as the Doom portal started opening right above Leonidas.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Masquerade laughed like a complete mad man. "Now watch as your precious Leonidas is sent away to the Doom Dimension! Forever!"

The vortex then completely opened up right above Leonidas and…

Nothing happened.

Leonidas was not sucked in.

"What?!" Masquerade yelled as the Doom Dimension wasn't claiming Hydranoid's victim.

"Leonidas…" Drago silently said as the Bakugan was somehow _resisting _the pull of the Doom Dimension. Something no Bakugan has ever done before.

"H-Huh…" Lincoln managed to let out as he saw his partner not getting banished.

The Doom Dimension portal then started close despite Leonidas still remaining on the field. Once it was gone, Leonidas proceeded to glow as he was reverted back to ball form and landed at Lincoln's feet. "No way…" Dan silently gasped as he watched Lincoln quickly pick up Leonidas.

"Leonidas…you're…you're still with me…" Lincoln cried tears of relief as he held his partner close and-

"HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" Everyone turned their attention towards Masquerade who had a look of anger and confusion on his face. "TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT RIGHT NOW!"

Lincoln…didn't know what to say. How did Leonidas do that? From what Drago said no Bakugan could stand up to the Doom Dimension…but Leonidas did. Deciding to worry about it later and just be glad he still had his partner, Lincoln looked up and glared at Masquerade. "LIKE I'D TELL YOU ANYTHING!"

Masquerade gritted his teeth at Lincoln's response as he looked up at Hydranoid. "HYDRANOID! DESTORY THE REST OF THEM NOW! WE'LL FIRGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH THEM LATER!"

"Prepare to di-" However, Hydranoid was cut off by Drago shooting another fireball at the Darkus Bakugans. Thanks to Fire Wall lowering Hydranoid's G power, this time damage was dealt.

"That was for Leonidas!" Drago yelled as Hydranoid roared in pain.

"Good shot Drago!" Skyress complimented.

Hydranoid roared again as he glowed and turned back to ball form while landing at very pissed Masquerade's feet. Masquerade bent down and picked up his Hydranoid and Laserman and gripped them tightly with a clenched fist. "You all got lucky. But from now on watch your backs." Masquerade roared them; his gaze dead set on Lincoln. "Soon you'll all be heading for the DOOM DIMENSION!" With those final words, Masquerade suddenly disappeared in a bright flash.

Once the masked brawler was gone, Drago and Skyress glowed as they reverted to ball form and went back to their respective brawlers' hands. "Hey Shun…thanks for that." Dan said as he gave the Ventus user a smile.

"Yeah well…couldn't leave ya hanging like that." Shun replied as the field started to glow and-

Time started again as Dan and Shun looked at each other with Lincoln only focused on his partner. "Leonidas…are you alright?" Lincoln asked the Darkus Bakugan.

"…"

No response.

"Leonidas?" Lincoln asked again only to get no response.

"He's probably out right now Linc." Dan told his Darkus using friend. "He was hit pretty hard out there. Just let him rest."

"Y-Yeah, you're probably right." Lincoln agreed with Dan before looking back at Leonidas. "Rest well buddy, you've more than earned it." Lincoln then put Leonidas into his pocket.

"So Shun…" Dan said as he looked back at his 13-year-old friend. "Are you-"

"Yeah…I'm in." Shun cut off Dan with a small smile on his face. "After everything…I think its about time I come back out…and come back to my friends. You help show me that Dan. Even after I stopped playing Bakugan, I was still number one at the game, but that left me bored. No one could give me a challenge. But you, you and the others help bring that spark I was so passionate about. And besides, if I'm not there who's gonna keep ya out of trouble?"

Dan was a little ticked off about that last line, but hearing that his friend was coming back. "Heh, glad to have you back Shun." Dan said as he and Shun walked up to each other and shook hands. "Looks like we have a mission to complete together."

"Look like it." Shun said before both the Ventus and Pyrus user saw Lincoln standing where Masquerade was and picking something up off the ground.

Reaper.

Masquerade took Laserman and Hydranoid with him, but left Reaper for dead. Lincoln looked over the Darkus Bakugan for a few seconds putting put Reaper in his pocket. "You're taking in _another _stray?" Dan said with a joking tone and smirk on his face.

"I can't just leave him here." Lincoln told Dan with a neutral look on his face. "Masquerade tried to kill his own Bakugan. What kind of people would we be if we just left him after that?"

"Eh, suit yourself." Dan said with a nonchalant shrug.

Shun looked a Lincoln with a guilty look on his face. He made renewed his friendship with Dan…but Lincoln was going to be something else entirely. "Hey…Lincoln…" Shun slowly said, hoping the white head would allow him to say something. "I-"

"Just stuff it Shun." Lincoln cut off Shun, making him flinch. "You got your point across earlier. I'll accept that your part of the team now, we need all the help we can get to get to the Infinity Core first. But don't think for a second that we're buddy-buddy again got it?"

All Shun could do was lower his head and give a small nod as Lincoln started walking away, not even giving Shun a glance. "Dude…I'm glad you're back on the team and all…" Dan begun telling Shun. "But…your crossed a line with Lincoln."

"Yeah…" Shun said with a look of regret and guilt on his face.

"I know."

* * *

_**Man was this a trip or what?  
**_

**_So about that other dub vs sub scene, it involved Reaper attacking Hydranoid. In the dub it wasn't even shown and it just implies that Reaper was attacked before getting sent to the Doom Dimension. In the sub...it showed Hydranoid impaling Reaper._**

_**And considering what I did with Reaper in this chapter, I still wanted him to get an injury, but something he could come back from. Because unless your a Dragon Ball character or a character like Deadpool or Wolverine its kinda hard to come back from impalement.**_

_**So, anyway with all that said, remember to follow, fav, and leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter...**_

_**"Wounded Pride"**_


	16. Sneak Peak

_**Hey everyone. Been awhile huh? Sorry about not updating for awhile. Just been busy with my story Louds vs the Forces of Evil. Its a Loud House x Star VS the Forces of Evil fic in case that wasn't obvious, lol. But I decided to focus on that story for a bit. And I got past the entire first season XD. So now I'm updating all my fics once before going one to focus mainly on another story. Which story is it? Well you'll just have to wait and see. But I felt you guys deserved a small taste of the next chapter before its completely done. So to reward your patience I'm releasing this sneak peak. I hope you enjoy it.**_

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It's been one day since the trip to Shun's dojo and things have been rather…awkward since they got back home. Especially in the Loud household. Lincoln has been keeping to himself in his room all day with his siblings and parents starting to get worried about him. However, Lori knew full well why Lincoln wasn't too keen on socialization right now and figured it was best for Lincoln to have his space for a while.

Especially for what was planned and knowing that alone time was going to be really sparse coming forward. Might as well get it in why he could.

Meanwhile with Marucho, he was making all the preparations with Kato for the trip. What trip? The trip to find the Infinity Core of course! They had agreed to get all the Brawlers together and travel around the world and hopefully find the source of all of Vestroia's positive energy before Masquerade could find it for Naga. They were even gonna pick up Julie all the way in Australia for this so that all the Battle Brawlers would be there for the mission.

So yeah…eight people for a journey across the world that would last who knows how long. Alone time wasn't gonna be something that would happen a lot.

Runo was pretty much just doing what she's normally been doing and helping out at her parent's café while she can before she has to leave, with Alice helping out and her feminine charm attracting plenty of male customers…much to Dan's annoyance and anger.

And speaking of Dan, he was currently trying to hype himself up for the upcoming trip. While he was happy that Shun was onboard, a part of him was still rather ticked off and sort of annoyed that the Ventus Brawler was gonna be with them. Although it had more to do with Dan's pride as a brawler then any sort of emotional pain like with Lincoln. But still, Shun was a vital member to the team and he would just have to suck it up so they can defeat Masquerade.

Same with Lincoln as currently he was sitting in his room during the morning just playing on his 3ds before having to go to school and trying to take his mind off the events of the future. Might as well enjoy himself while he can. And he really is spending time with only himself as the two others in his room haven't spoken a word since he got back home.

The first of which was Lincoln's partner Leonidas. Lincoln honestly couldn't be more grateful that the Darkus Bakugan was still with him. Once Leonidas took that hit for Drago and the portal to the Doom Dimension opened, he thought for sure that he would be losing his partner that day. But by some miracle, Leonidas wasn't sucked into the Doom Dimension. Lincoln was gonna question why, but no way in heck he was gonna look this gift horse in the mouth. He decided just to be happy with it and end it there.

But there was still a problem with things. Leonidas hasn't done anything since they got back. No talking, moving, anything. At first Lincoln thought that Leonidas was simply knocked out from the fight. He did take a nasty blast from Hydranoid. But it's been a day so far and Leonidas is tougher than that to be knocked out for that long. But all Lincoln could do was wait and hope. He tried talking to Leonidas, but got nothing in response.

And then there as the second and newest one to be in the white haired Loud's room.

Reaper.

Another shocking thing that happened the previous day is that Masquerade had betrayed the Darkus Bakugan. Due to the Third Judgement gate card, Masquerade prepared from the start to send Reaper to his demise. Even with Drago sent to another card, Masquerade gave the order for Hydranoid to strike down Reaper.

But somehow, Leonidas was able to reach out beyond his card and save him. Leonidas had saved Reaper from doom. No one could have possibly seen that coming. So, Reaper was simply tossed at Masquerade's Laserman and was sent back to ball form nice and safely.

But as any villain would, Masquerade had simply left Reaper on the ground at Shun's dojo, completely abandoning the Bakugan. So, Lincoln had decided to take things into his own hands and picked up Reaper and decided to take him back home. Despite what the Bakugan had done, Lincoln just couldn't leave him like that. It was just in his nature.

But similar with Leonidas, Reaper hadn't spoken since he went home. Although considering the injury he got from Hydranoid's tail, he could actually believe the Darkus Bakugan was still out for the count. Hopefully would wake up-

"Ah! What happened?! Where am I!?" Suddenly Reaper popped open and looked around frantically from Lincoln's drawer.

…Soon…

"Huh, finally up?" Lincoln asked as he closed up his handheld system and set it down next to him and looked at Reaper frantically looking around the area and trying to figure out where he was. Lincoln couldn't help but smirk in amusement over the scene.

"What the-YOU!" Reaper then snapped towards Lincoln and, if his expression could change in ball form, looked at the Loud boy with anger. "What do you want human?!"

"Ok, first off, indoor voice. You're my roof now." Lincoln told the Darkus Bakugan with a scolding tone to show Reaper that Lincoln was in charge right now. "Second of all, what a way to talk to someone who ended up saving your life and taking you in."

"What the hell are you talking about you…wait…" Reaper looked down in thought as Lincoln's words suddenly rang a bell with him. Memories flashed in his mind about the brawl of the previous day. About Masquerade's betrayal, Hydranoid's slash, Leonidas saving him from the Doom Dimension, and finally Lincoln picking him off the ground before Reaper blacked out. "_Masquerade_…" Reaper said with pure venom in his voice. "That traitor!"

"So I'm guess you remember huh?" Lincoln assumed as he saw Reaper vibrating with anger. The Darkus Bakugan was obviously extremely bitter and angry over the betrayal. Lincoln couldn't blame him honestly. To work so hard with someone, even if that work was essentially killing Bakugan and manipulating humans into killing Bakugan, only to have them stab you in the back and pretty much toss you away like trash. Probably one of the worst feelings in the world. "So how ya feeling? Physically at least. You took a pretty nasty blow back there"

"Hmph." Reaper simply huffed and turned away from Lincoln. Lincoln wasn't to upset about it however. It honestly reminded him of when Leonidas first joined up with him. Heck, Leonidas still does do that every now and then. Mostly with his sisters. "I don't need to tell you anything human."

"Alright." Lincoln shrugged as he sat down in his head, crossing his arms behind his head. "Excuse me for wondering how you are after getting slashed across the chest. Guess you all are skins and bones after all." He channeled a bit of his inner Luan with that last one.

"DO NOT JOKE ABOUT ME HUMAN!" Reaper quickly snapped as he turned towards Lincoln and started bouncing something up and down. An action that didn't intimidate Lincoln and really only looked sort of funny. "Now tell me, why have you brought me here. Tell me now!"

"Well let me see." Lincoln said as he started counting his fingers. "Your partner back stabbed you, almost sent you to the Doom Dimension, and when you weren't, he just left you sitting on the ground." Lincoln listed while looking right at Reaper. "So I just figured this would kind of be an upgrade to all that."

"Hmph, so what? You're just being 'nice' to me?" Reaper questioned with a tone that showed he wasn't about to buy any tricks or such. Lincoln's answer was a simple nod, since that was exactly what the Loud boy was doing. Reaper however, wasn't believing it. "Please! I was used once, and I'm not gonna be used again!"

"I'm not trying to trick you." Lincoln stated in a firm tone as he crossed his arms. He was simply gonna tell Reaper the full truth and if he didn't believe him, then oh well. "I _am_ trying to be nice to you. Masquerade just left you there so I just wanted to help you out so I'm letting you stay at my house."

"Even if that was true, I don't need your charity human!" Reaper growled at Lincoln as the Loud boy simply rolled his eyes. Why wasn't Lincoln surprised? "I can take care of myself just fine thank you very much!"

"…Alright." Lincoln shrugged before standing up. Right as Reaper was about to say something, he was suddenly grabbed by Lincoln and his shouts were muffled by the humans hands as Lincoln took Reaper downstairs. The white-haired boy then went to the door and opened it up, stepping outside and going over to the side walk. "There ya go."

"Ugh! Never! Touch me! Again!" Reaper shouted in a threatening tone. How dare this human touch him! He should know his place_ under _him! But before the Darkus Bakugan could voice these, he looked around and saw that he was outside and one the side walk in front of the Loud House. "Where am I?"

"You said you can take care of yourself. So go on." Lincoln said as he gestured his hand forward. "You're outside now. You're free to go and do whatever you want. I want stop you."

"Hmph, well look at that. You actually have the intelligence to realize something." Lincoln sighed as he was seriously start to get some déjà vu from Reaper. Plus it was starting to get on his nerves about how narcissistic Reaper was. "But you're going to regret releasing me human. I still plan on destroying you as well as Masquerade."

"Well I won't regret it till you leave." Lincoln said in a blank tone as he gestured to the outside world. "Free to go anytime you want."

"I will!" Reaper yelled.

"Alright then, bye." Lincoln said before turning around and walking back inside. Reaper then turned around to face the road and begin his journey out in the human world. Missing Lincoln looking at him through the window.

"Alright, now which way to go?" Reaper asked himself as he took a look in both directions, deciding which one he should go down. "Hmmm…maybe I should have asked for some-no! I don't need that humans help! Come on Reaper, it doesn't matter which way you go!"

Reaper then turned to the left and start hopping down the side walk…at a rather slow pace. "Ugh…hard to…move around…in…ball form…" Reaper hasn't had much experience moving around much in his ball body. Most of the time he was carried around by Masquerade or whatever brawler he was assigned to. So he really didn't _have_ to walk around in ball form. "Come on…just have to…keep going!"

But Reaper was soon met with the obstacles of the human world. Just then a group of children came running down the sidewalk, laughing and not realizing there was a Bakugan in front of them. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Reaper yelled as he was accidently kicked right into the middle of the road by one of the kids. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU LITTLE BRATS!"

Of course the children didn't hear the Darkus Bakugan was they simply continued to run forward. Reaper simply started to mutter curses as he started to hop back towards the sidewalk he was just hopping on. "Stupid…human world…humans…not knowing their…wait…what's that noise?" Looking forward, Reapers eyes would have widened if they could in ball form as he saw a car quickly approaching them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" While the car ended up safely going over Reaper, the wind force that was created was enough to blow the Darkus Bakugan into the air. Reaper didn't stop screaming as another car came by quickly afterward with Reaper hitting the windshield. The driver gasped, thinking Reaper was some sort of large bug, and quickly activated the windshield whippers and forced Reaper off the windshield.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Reaper continued to scream as he was blown towards the side of the road he was originally one and proceeded to bounce and the pavement. Thankfully he landed safely on a dandelion and breathed heavily as his life flashed before his eyes. "Oh…my…God…" Reaper let out in between breaths.

He…He couldn't be out here on his own. He could hardly move around…everything was bigger than him. And as much as he absolutely hated to admit this, he was vulnerable.

…There was only one thing he could do.

"On a tropical island…on a tropical island…" Lincoln sang while simply relaxing on the couch. The 11-year-old had left the window once Reaper was out of view and went to relax on the couch. He was confident about what was going to happen and decided to just sit and wait.

"Hi Linky." Passing by the living room with a before school smoothie in her hand was Leni Loud. Seeing her brother on the couch, Leni just wanted to give her little brother a quick hi and ask what he was doing. "Whatcha doin?"

"Oh you know." Lincoln said casually as he leaned back on the couch. "Just waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Leni asked while scratching her head.

_Dink. Dink. Dink._

"For that." Lincoln said with a small smirk as he heard a few dinks at the door. Like someone was throwing pebbles at it. But Lincoln knew they weren't pebbles. He was about 99% sure what it was. So walking over to the door, Lincoln opened it up, looked down, and saw Reaper looking like his pride had taken a huge hit.

"…May I come in?" Reaper quietly asked, ashamed of himself for actually having to ask this human for help.

Lincoln's only response was picking up Reaper and to head back upstairs.


	17. Wounded Pride

**_Haha! Didn't have to wait long after the sneak peak now did ya. I had a nice time working on this chapter. Its not to action packed but it does what it needs to do. Plus there will be PLENTY of action in the future so don't worry. With all that said, I hope you enjoy._**

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"It's been one day since the trip to Shun's dojo and things have been rather…awkward since they got back home. Especially in the Loud household. Lincoln has been keeping to himself in his room all day with his siblings and parents starting to get worried about him. However, Lori knew full well why Lincoln wasn't too keen on socialization right now and figured it was best for Lincoln to have his space for a while.

Especially for what was planned and knowing that alone time was going to be really sparse coming forward. Might as well get it in why he could.

Meanwhile with Marucho, he was making all the preparations with Kato for the trip. What trip? The trip to find the Infinity Core of course! They had agreed to get all the Brawlers together and travel around the world and hopefully find the source of all of Vestroia's positive energy before Masquerade could find it for Naga. They were even gonna pick up Julie all the way in Australia for this so that all the Battle Brawlers would be there for the mission.

So yeah…eight people for a journey across the world that would last who knows how long. Alone time wasn't gonna be something that would happen a lot.

Runo was pretty much just doing what she's normally been doing and helping out at her parent's café while she can before she has to leave, with Alice helping out and her feminine charm attracting plenty of male customers…much to Dan's annoyance and anger.

And speaking of Dan, he was currently trying to hype himself up for the upcoming trip. While he was happy that Shun was onboard, a part of him was still rather ticked off and sort of annoyed that the Ventus Brawler was gonna be with them. Although it had more to do with Dan's pride as a brawler then any sort of emotional pain like with Lincoln. But still, Shun was a vital member to the team and he would just have to suck it up so they can defeat Masquerade.

Same with Lincoln as currently he was sitting in his room during the morning just playing on his 3ds before having to go to school and trying to take his mind off the events of the future. Might as well enjoy himself while he can. And he really is spending time with only himself as the two others in his room haven't spoken a word since he got back home.

The first of which was Lincoln's partner Leonidas. Lincoln honestly couldn't be more grateful that the Darkus Bakugan was still with him. Once Leonidas took that hit for Drago and the portal to the Doom Dimension opened, he thought for sure that he would be losing his partner that day. But by some miracle, Leonidas wasn't sucked into the Doom Dimension. Lincoln was gonna question why, but no way in heck he was gonna look this gift horse in the mouth. He decided just to be happy with it and end it there.

But there was still a problem with things. Leonidas hasn't done anything since they got back. No talking, moving, anything. At first Lincoln thought that Leonidas was simply knocked out from the fight. He did take a nasty blast from Hydranoid. But it's been a day so far and Leonidas is tougher than that to be knocked out for that long. But all Lincoln could do was wait and hope. He tried talking to Leonidas, but got nothing in response.

And then there as the second and newest one to be in the white haired Loud's room.

Reaper.

Another shocking thing that happened the previous day is that Masquerade had betrayed the Darkus Bakugan. Due to the Third Judgement gate card, Masquerade prepared from the start to send Reaper to his demise. Even with Drago sent to another card, Masquerade gave the order for Hydranoid to strike down Reaper.

But somehow, Leonidas was able to reach out beyond his card and save him. Leonidas had saved Reaper from doom. No one could have possibly seen that coming. So, Reaper was simply tossed at Masquerade's Laserman and was sent back to ball form nice and safely.

But as any villain would, Masquerade had simply left Reaper on the ground at Shun's dojo, completely abandoning the Bakugan. So, Lincoln had decided to take things into his own hands and picked up Reaper and decided to take him back home. Despite what the Bakugan had done, Lincoln just couldn't leave him like that. It was just in his nature.

But similar with Leonidas, Reaper hadn't spoken since he went home. Although considering the injury he got from Hydranoid's tail, he could actually believe the Darkus Bakugan was still out for the count. Hopefully would wake up-

"Ah! What happened?! Where am I!?" Suddenly Reaper popped open and looked around frantically from Lincoln's drawer.

…Soon…

"Huh, finally up?" Lincoln asked as he closed up his handheld system and set it down next to him and looked at Reaper frantically looking around the area and trying to figure out where he was. Lincoln couldn't help but smirk in amusement over the scene.

"What the-YOU!" Reaper then snapped towards Lincoln and, if his expression could change in ball form, looked at the Loud boy with anger. "What do you want human?!"

"Ok, first off, indoor voice. You're my roof now." Lincoln told the Darkus Bakugan with a scolding tone to show Reaper that Lincoln was in charge right now. "Second of all, what a way to talk to someone who ended up saving your life and taking you in."

"What the hell are you talking about you…wait…" Reaper looked down in thought as Lincoln's words suddenly rang a bell with him. Memories flashed in his mind about the brawl of the previous day. About Masquerade's betrayal, Hydranoid's slash, Leonidas saving him from the Doom Dimension, and finally Lincoln picking him off the ground before Reaper blacked out. "_Masquerade_…" Reaper said with pure venom in his voice. "That traitor!"

"So I'm guess you remember huh?" Lincoln assumed as he saw Reaper vibrating with anger. The Darkus Bakugan was obviously extremely bitter and angry over the betrayal. Lincoln couldn't blame him honestly. To work so hard with someone, even if that work was essentially killing Bakugan and manipulating humans into killing Bakugan, only to have them stab you in the back and pretty much toss you away like trash. Probably one of the worst feelings in the world. "So how ya feeling? Physically at least. You took a pretty nasty blow back there"

"Hmph." Reaper simply huffed and turned away from Lincoln. Lincoln wasn't to upset about it however. It honestly reminded him of when Leonidas first joined up with him. Heck, Leonidas still does do that every now and then. Mostly with his sisters. "I don't need to tell you anything human."

"Alright." Lincoln shrugged as he sat down in his head, crossing his arms behind his head. "Excuse me for wondering how you are after getting slashed across the chest. Guess you all are skins and bones after all." He channeled a bit of his inner Luan with that last one.

"DO NOT JOKE ABOUT ME HUMAN!" Reaper quickly snapped as he turned towards Lincoln and started bouncing something up and down. An action that didn't intimidate Lincoln and really only looked sort of funny. "Now tell me, why have you brought me here. Tell me now!"

"Well let me see." Lincoln said as he started counting his fingers. "Your partner back stabbed you, almost sent you to the Doom Dimension, and when you weren't, he just left you sitting on the ground." Lincoln listed while looking right at Reaper. "So I just figured this would kind of be an upgrade to all that."

"Hmph, so what? You're just being 'nice' to me?" Reaper questioned with a tone that showed he wasn't about to buy any tricks or such. Lincoln's answer was a simple nod, since that was exactly what the Loud boy was doing. Reaper however, wasn't believing it. "Please! I was used once, and I'm not gonna be used again!"

"I'm not trying to trick you." Lincoln stated in a firm tone as he crossed his arms. He was simply gonna tell Reaper the full truth and if he didn't believe him, then oh well. "I _am_ trying to be nice to you. Masquerade just left you there so I just wanted to help you out so I'm letting you stay at my house."

"Even if that was true, I don't need your charity human!" Reaper growled at Lincoln as the Loud boy simply rolled his eyes. Why wasn't Lincoln surprised? "I can take care of myself just fine thank you very much!"

"…Alright." Lincoln shrugged before standing up. Right as Reaper was about to say something, he was suddenly grabbed by Lincoln and his shouts were muffled by the humans hands as Lincoln took Reaper downstairs. The white-haired boy then went to the door and opened it up, stepping outside and going over to the side walk. "There ya go."

"Ugh! Never! Touch me! Again!" Reaper shouted in a threatening tone. How dare this human touch him! He should know his place_ under _him! But before the Darkus Bakugan could voice these, he looked around and saw that he was outside and one the side walk in front of the Loud House. "Where am I?"

"You said you can take care of yourself. So go on." Lincoln said as he gestured his hand forward. "You're outside now. You're free to go and do whatever you want. I want stop you."

"Hmph, well look at that. You actually have the intelligence to realize something." Lincoln sighed as he was seriously start to get some déjà vu from Reaper. Plus it was starting to get on his nerves about how narcissistic Reaper was. "But you're going to regret releasing me human. I still plan on destroying you as well as Masquerade."

"Well I won't regret it till you leave." Lincoln said in a blank tone as he gestured to the outside world. "Free to go anytime you want."

"I will!" Reaper yelled.

"Alright then, bye." Lincoln said before turning around and walking back inside. Reaper then turned around to face the road and begin his journey out in the human world. Missing Lincoln looking at him through the window.

"Alright, now which way to go?" Reaper asked himself as he took a look in both directions, deciding which one he should go down. "Hmmm…maybe I should have asked for some-no! I don't need that humans help! Come on Reaper, it doesn't matter which way you go!"

Reaper then turned to the left and start hopping down the side walk…at a rather slow pace. "Ugh…hard to…move around…in…ball form…" Reaper hasn't had much experience moving around much in his ball body. Most of the time he was carried around by Masquerade or whatever brawler he was assigned to. So he really didn't _have_ to walk around in ball form. "Come on…just have to…keep going!"

But Reaper was soon met with the obstacles of the human world. Just then a group of children came running down the sidewalk, laughing and not realizing there was a Bakugan in front of them. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Reaper yelled as he was accidently kicked right into the middle of the road by one of the kids. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU LITTLE BRATS!"

Of course the children didn't hear the Darkus Bakugan was they simply continued to run forward. Reaper simply started to mutter curses as he started to hop back towards the sidewalk he was just hopping on. "Stupid…human world…humans…not knowing their…wait…what's that noise?" Looking forward, Reapers eyes would have widened if they could in ball form as he saw a car quickly approaching them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" While the car ended up safely going over Reaper, the wind force that was created was enough to blow the Darkus Bakugan into the air. Reaper didn't stop screaming as another car came by quickly afterward with Reaper hitting the windshield. The driver gasped, thinking Reaper was some sort of large bug, and quickly activated the windshield whippers and forced Reaper off the windshield.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Reaper continued to scream as he was blown towards the side of the road he was originally one and proceeded to bounce and the pavement. Thankfully he landed safely on a dandelion and breathed heavily as his life flashed before his eyes. "Oh…my…God…" Reaper let out in between breaths.

He…He couldn't be out here on his own. He could hardly move around…everything was bigger than him. And as much as he absolutely hated to admit this, he was vulnerable.

…There was only one thing he could do.

* * *

"On a tropical island…on a tropical island…" Lincoln sang while simply relaxing on the couch. The 11-year-old had left the window once Reaper was out of view and went to relax on the couch. He was confident about what was going to happen and decided to just sit and wait.

"Hi Linky." Passing by the living room with a before school smoothie in her hand was Leni Loud. Seeing her brother on the couch, Leni just wanted to give her little brother a quick hi and ask what he was doing. "Whatcha doin?"

"Oh you know." Lincoln said casually as he leaned back on the couch. "Just waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Leni asked while scratching her head.

_Dink. Dink. Dink._

"For that." Lincoln said with a small smirk as he heard a few dinks at the door. Like someone was throwing pebbles at it. But Lincoln knew they weren't pebbles. He was about 99% sure what it was. So walking over to the door, Lincoln opened it up, looked down, and saw Reaper looking like his pride had taken a huge hit.

"…May I come in?" Reaper quietly asked, ashamed of himself for actually having to ask this human for help.

Lincoln's only response was picking up Reaper and to head back upstairs.

* * *

"Alright Reaper, so you don't trust me?" Lincoln asked as he was now back in his room with Reaper on his drawer. The Loud boy and Darkus Bakugan were looking each other right in the eyes as they spoke while Leonidas was still resting on his pillow in ball form. Completely silent.

"I think I made that very clear." Reaper growled back at Lincoln. The only reason he had to swallow his pride and ask to be let in the house was because he just could navigate, move around, and defend himself out there. Not when he's stuck as a ball. And since Lincoln was the only human he sorta knew around, well need he say more? But that still didn't mean he trusted Lincoln. Not one bit. He wasn't about to let another human take advantage of him again.

"And if I'm being completely honest, I don't trust you." Lincoln stated as, even though he took the Bakugan in, that didn't mean he was gonna start telling all his secrets to Reaper. "However, you _do _hate Masquerade, right?"

"Also correct." Reaper confirmed, his Darkus blood boiling over hearing the name of the masked human.

"Well I hate him to." Lincoln said as he crossed his arms. "And the enemy of an enemy is a friend. Or at least people who can work together. So I'm going to make you a deal."

"I'm listening." Reaper said as he was at least willing to hear what the human had to say.

"How about you join the Battle Brawlers until we deal with Masquerade." Lincoln offered as he kept his look at Reaper. "I'm not asking you to be friends, or even full on allies. I'm just asking that you help us take down Masquerade. Once he's dealt with, we never have to see each other again."

"Tch…" Reaper clicked his tongue as he turned away from Lincoln. He just told himself he wasn't gonna let another human take advantage of him and he was sticking to that vow. But…revenge on Masquerade does sound rather nice.

"Well whats it gonna be? Not like you have an option in the first place." Lincoln said with a grin that made Reaper growl. It was either help them out, or try and survive in the human world as nothing more then a black and purple ball. "And I'm giving you an offer that's more then you deserve honestly considering what you've done so maybe appreciate whats in front of you."

"Grrrrrrr…FINE!" Reaper yelled through his teeth as he turned to Lincoln again. "I'll be apart of your little group. _But_! This is strictly professional got it?! I'm only in this for revenge against Masquerade. Once I've crushed him, this whole thing ends."

"…Fine." Lincoln said as he held out his pointer finger to Reaper. "So we have a deal?"

Reaper didn't touch the finger and simply backed away. "Deal." Reaper growled, showing he clearly wasn't happy with the circumstances but was willing to at least go along. Lincoln simply rolled his eyes at Reaper's unwillingness to just shake his finger.

"Well then its settled." Lincoln said before turning to the other Darkus Bakugan in the room. "Well Leonidas, looks like we got another member of the team."

"…"

"Seriously? Still not saying anything?" Lincoln asked in a concern tone as he picked up Leonidas and held the Bakugan to his face. "Hey whats wrong partner? You know you can tell me if somethings wrong."

"…"

Lincoln sighed as he went to pick up his backpack. "Alright…you need some time. I get it." Lincoln then put Leonidas into an empty pocket in his backpack where hopefully his partner would be comfortable. "Welp, we better get going."

"Going where?" Reaper asked before Lincoln picked him up suddenly. "HEY! What did I say about touching me?!"

"Well I'm sorry but like I said earlier I don't really trust you either buddy." Lincoln explained to the Darkus Bakugan, adding some sarcasm to the word buddy. "So you're staying with me so I know you won't get into mischief. So like it or not you're going to school with me."

"Grrrr…" Reaper growled before simply shutting himself into ball form and not saying a word. Not like he could do much in this state. So, very much begrudgingly, Reaper allowed for Lincoln to put him in his pocket. With both Darkus Bakugan with him, Lincoln put his backpack on and went on his way to school, deciding to walk there today.

* * *

"Hey Linc, Leonidas doing ok?" Later into the day, Lincoln and Dan could now be seen at school. It was currently lunch time and the two Battle Brawlers were sitting at a table along with their friends Rusty, Zach, Liam, Clyde, and Stella. Drago was also there hanging out inside the pocket of Dan's red vest.

Lincoln sighed in response as he took out said Bakugan who was still unmoving and silent in ball form. "I honestly don't know guys." Lincoln answered as he held his partner in both of his hands. The gang had all met Drago and Leonidas but never really interacted with them much. Mainly due to Drago just not being exactly to social with humans other then his partner and the other Battle Brawlers and Leonidas's…less then polite attitude. "Ever since the battle with Hydranoid he just hasn't been…himself."

"Well I kinda like him better like this." Rusty stated as he crossed his arms and rose his head. "He's nothing but a total jerk to me so silence is certainly an upgrade."

Everyone at the table either glared or gave Rusty a blank look at the ginger's insensitiveness. While yes manners weren't exactly Leonidas's specialty to say the least, it was easy to tell Lincoln was worried about his partner so those kinda comments were just plain mean. "Well Leonidas was struck by a powerful attack from Hydranoid." Drago pointed out as the intense battle from before came to his mind. "Its likely he's still out."

"Hmmmm, maybe. But Reaper recovered this morning and he took a much nastier blow." Lincoln pointed as Dan groaned in response. The pyrus user was still against Lincoln taking the Darkus Bakugan with him and thought they should have just left Reaper where Masquerade left him. "I mean you saw it, Reaper had a big gash in his chest and Leonidas only got a bit burnt."

"Still can't believe you took that creep with ya." Dan huffed as he crossed his arms. "Even if he was betrayed he doesn't deserve any pity at all. Shoulda just let him rot."

"I heard that human!"

Everyone at the table but Lincoln jumped in response to the voice as the Darkus Reaper himself suddenly jumped outta Lincoln's pocket and onto the table. "What in tarnation?!" Liam yelled in surprise.

"Reaper…" Drago said in a low tone as he looked down at Reaper.

"Dragonoid…" Reaper responded in the same tone.

"Uh, Lincoln…" Clyde whispered nervously to his best friend. "Are you sure it's a good idea to keep…_him_ around." Lincoln and Dan had told the others at their table about their many encounters and battles with Reaper being a prominent factor whenever there was a Darkus brawler. And Reaper doesn't seem like someone trust worthy…like…at all.

Lincoln simply sighed as he just decided to tell everyone the situation. "Alright everyone, listen up." Lincoln said as he got everyones attention. "Reaper has agreed to join us in the Battle Brawlers quest to stop Masquerade."

"WHAT?!" Dan yelled as he slammed his hands down on the table. "No way is that guy allowed on the team!"

"Lincoln, you're playing with nasty cards dude." Zach warned his white-haired friend. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Hmph, you should consider yourselves lucky humans." Reaper said as he looked away from all the humans on the lunch table. "With me you at least have some inside information on Masquerade."

"Exactly. Relax guys I thought about this." Lincoln stated as he crossed his arms and looked down with a serious look on his face. "Me and Reaper both agreed, he helps us in exchange for getting revenge on Masquerade. Once that's over with, we never have to see each other again."

"Well…if you're sure about this Lincoln." Stella said with a small smile. Though she still had some doubts about the situation, if Lincoln was sure about this then she trusted him. "Just be sure to be careful ok?"

Lincoln smiled at Stella's faith in him with Dan simply continued glaring at Reaper. "Well I'm not gonna convinced that easily." Dan told everyone in a stubborn tone while giving Reaper the stink eye. "I got my eye on you pal…"

"I don't need a babysitter human." Reaper growled at the Pyrus Brawler. "I won't double cross you like I was, but I do be expected to be left _alone_."

"Uuuuum, if you fellas are done squabbling…" Liam said as he rose his hand, getting everyone at the table's attention. Liam then pointed away from the table while telling Lincoln, "Your partners bouncing away there Linc."

"What?!" Lincoln yelled as he looked into his hand and saw Leonidas was gone. Then looking to where Liam was pointing and saw that Leonidas was still in ball form bouncing away. He must have accidently dropped Leonidas while he was talking. "Leonidas!"

Lincoln then quickly grabbed Reaper and headed of to catch his partner. "Leonidas! Try to stop yourself!" Lincoln called out as he quickly navigated past tables and still walking students to try and get the Bakugan. But like before, Leonidas wasn't saying a thing or even grunting as he bounced or make an attempt to stop himself. "Come on! Someone please catch him!"

Thankfully someone did respond to that last call Lincoln made as Lincoln's partner was successfully caught in the hands by one of Lincoln's classmates. The classmate was one Lincoln knew pretty well for it was none other then the dodgeball queen herself, Girl Jordan. "Sup Loud." Girl Jordan greeted as she held up Leonidas in her hands.

"Oh hey Girl Jordan." Lincoln greeted his friend with a smile as he looked to the Darkus Bakugan in her hands. "Thanks a bunch for catching Leonidas, I accidently dropped him."

"Hey its no problem." Girl Jordan reassured Lincoln as she handed Lincoln his partner back. Before Lincoln could leave with Leonidas at hand, Girl Jordan spoke up again in a bit more of a…flirty voice. "Ya know, talk around the school says you're quite the battler." Girl Jordan complimented making Lincoln's cheeks go a light pink. "Maybe you can…show me your skills sometime~"

"Grrrr…" Meanwhile watching from a bit away was none other then Haiku, who was growling and tightening her fist at Lincoln's and Girl Jordans interaction while glaring at the latter.

"Oh, uh, sure." Lincoln said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "I might be a bit…busy the next few weeks but once I'm free I'd love to show you some of my brawling skills."

"I'll hold you to it." Girl Jordan winked at the Loud boy as she lightly punched his shoulder. Lincoln sheepishly laughed a bit as he turned around and started heading back to his table with both Leonidas and Reaper in hand.

But right as he left…

"He's mine! He's mine!" Suddenly Haiku ran up to Girl Jordan and grabbed the dodgeball queen by the shoulders and started shaking her. "He's _mine_!"

"I'm really sorry about that Leonidas." Lincoln apologized to his partner as he made sure to hold onto the Darkus Bakugan tightly so he wouldn't drop him again. Meanwhile Reaper was now riding on top of Lincoln's right shoulder. "I should have kept a better eye on you."

"Hmph, a rather clumsy display." Reaper however showed no concern and belittled Leonidas. "Whatever happened to the mighty Leonidas?"

"…"

"Ugh, you're not helping Reaper!" Lincoln yelled to the Bakugan on his shoulder before sighing and looking back to his partner. "Look Leonidas, I don't know whats going on…but I'm giving up on you ya hear me?" Lincoln then put his partner back in his pocket when-

"Hey Larry."

"Oh sweet Vestroia I can't deal with this right now." Lincoln sighed at as he recognized the irritating and annoying voice behind him. Deciding to just get this over with, Lincoln turned around and was met with a student he wasn't exactly on friendly terms with. He was an 11-year-boy like Lincoln with red hair in a similar style to Luna, light fair skin, and freckles on his cheeks. He wore a yellow long sleeve shirt with white sleeves, which has a print of a blue gear, black pants with a black belt, and white sneakers with green stripes.

This was Chandler McCann, one of the popular boys at school and someone who always referred to Lincoln as Larry.

"What do you want Chandler?" Lincoln asked the popular boy in an annoyed tone as he put his hands in his pockets. With all the stuff that's happened lately like having to team up with Reaper, Leonidas's silence, and dealing with Shun, Lincoln just couldn't handle Chandler right now.

"Aw come on, why the sour mood Larry, we're cool right?" Chandler asked in a cool tone that simply made Lincoln roll his eyes. The red head was tossing a Pyrus Bakugan up and down in his hand as he looked at Lincoln and repeated what Girl Jordan said to him earlier. "Anyway, talk around the school says you're quite the battler."

"This human is annoying me greatly." Reaper growled as his eyes glowed, pretty much showing he was glaring at Chandler.

"You and me both." Lincoln whispered back to the Darkus Bakugan. Lincoln then looked back at Chandler with an unamused look and said. "So what if I am?" At this point nearly everyone in the lunch room was watching the scene unfold with interest.

"Well, how about…a little battle." Chandler challenged the Loud Boy as he took out a field card. "Ya know, just to show the school who's the _real_ best brawler. I'm also rather curious to see that partner Leonidas in action."

"Sorry, Leonidas isn't up for battling today." Lincoln immediately answered. If a Leonidas wasn't speaking, Lincoln doubt he would be down for battling. Especially with a guy like Chandler. "Maybe some other time."

Chandler couldn't believe it. Larry just completely denied him! He glared at the back of Lincoln's head as the Loud boy turned around and started walking away, but then a grin came to the red heads face as he thought of a way to get the Loud boy to change his mind. "What are you Larry?" Chandler asked as he crossed his arms. "_Chicken?_"

"Oooooooooooo!" Most of the students in the cafeteria, and even a few of the adults, said in unison.

"Whatever Chandler." Lincoln said with a shrug, not falling into his trap or even being bothered by the insult. Living with 10 sisters gave him pretty thick skin. "Say what you want but-"

"Human! Get ready to be crushed into the ground!" However, Reaper wasn't as willing to ignore Chandler as the Darkus Bakugan turned around to keep up his glare towards the boy. "Let's see you keep up that cocky grin when I'm tearing your Bakugan to pieces!"

"Reaper…what are you doing?!" Lincoln quietly yelled to the Darkus Bakugan.

"This human's cocky attitude and dumb face pisses me off." Reaper growled while his eyes continued to glow. "I would take pleasure in destroying him and his puny Bakugan."

"Well…I guess we both could use some practice working together." Lincoln muttered as he looked towards Chandler who had an 'I'm waiting' look on his face as he tapped his toe impatiently on the floor. "But, you gotta cooperate alright? We're a team in this."

"Fine." Reaper said with an annoyed sigh. "Just promise me I'll get to crush this pathetic bug."

"Alright Reaper, you got yourself a deal." Lincoln said as he took Reaper into his hand. He won't lie, getting the opportunity to beat Chandler in something was very appealing. Even if he couldn't use Leonidas, Reaper was still a very powerful Bakugan that could definitely get the job done. So turning around, Lincoln faced Chandler while taking out his field card. "Alright Chandler, you're on!"

"Knew you'd see it my way." Chandler said in a cocky tone as he and Lincoln rose their field cards.

"**Bakugan Field Open!**" Both 11-year-olds activated their cards with Lincoln's glowing purple and Chandlers glowing red as the Bakugan field opened for the two boys. "**Gate Card set!**" Both boys then threw their gate cards across from each other.

"Alright Reaper, lets do this." Lincoln said as he took said Bakugan and inserted him into the launcher Lincoln quickly equipped once the field was open. "Bakugan Brawl!" Lincoln then fired out Reaper towards Chandler's gate card. "Reaper Stand!"

"Raaaaaaaaa!" Reaper let out a battle cry as his true form appeared on the card. Reaper twirled his scythe around before slamming it down on the ground and looking down at the red headed human. "Here's Reaper!"

Chandler was definitely put back by Reaper's fierce look and tone, and Reaper now looked even more intimidating due to the scar across his chest left from Hydranoid. But the red head was able to keep his cool and give a smug look to Lincoln. "What's up Larry? Where's Leonidas?" Chandler asked with crossed arms.

"That Bakugan is of no concern to you human." Reaper growled at Chandler, growing more annoyed at this human by the second. "Your battle is with me. So either fight, or go home crying to your mommy."

"Oh its on now." Chandler said with an irritated tone as he took out a Pyrus Bakugan and threw it to his own card where Reaper was. "Bakugan Brawl! Pyrus Saurus stand!" Now facing down Reaper was a Pyrus Saurus that let loose a might roar.

"_Battle begin._" The Baku-pod said as Lincoln looked at it. "_Darkus Reaper stands at 3-7-0 G's. Pyrus stands at 3-0-0 G's."_

"Not for long it doesn't." Chandler said in a confident tone as he held his hand out. "**Gate Card open!**" The gate card then revealed itself to be an attribute card that covered the battlefield in flames and boosted Saurus power.

"_Saurus power boost by 2-0-0 G's._" The Baku-pod showed Chandlers Saurus increasing to 500 G's.

"Hmph, how pathetic." Reaper said, not intimidated at all as Saurus charged at him.

"**Ability Activate!**" Lincoln was quick to pull out and activated one of Reaper's signature abilities. "**Dimension Four!**" Thanks to the power of the ability card, Chandler gate card was instantly shut down.

"_Saurus power decrease by 2-0-0 G's._" The Baku-pod said as it showed Chandlers Saurus going back to its base power.

"Oh crap!" Chandler yelled as he looked up and-

_SLASH!_

With a single powerful slash of Reapers scythe, Chandlers Saurus glowed red and reverted to ball form, landing right at Chandler's feet. "Hahaha! You should just give up now!" Reaper taunted as he glowed purple and returned to ball form, Lincoln catching him in his hand.

"Not bad Reaper." Lincoln complimented as he looked at the Bakugan in his hands. "You still got it."

"Hmph, like there was any doubt." Reapers words held no modesty. "This human will be easy to tear about."

"Ok, you gotta cool it with the talk." Lincoln scolded as not even Leonidas was THIS aggressive when they first started working together. "Lets just clean this guys clock."

"Grrrr, enjoy that victory Larry because it ain't happening again!" Chandler yelled as he picked up another Pyrus Bakugan and threw it at Lincoln's gate card. "Bakugan Brawl!"

The rest of the battle…went about as well as you'd expect.

* * *

Time started again as all the students and faculty watched with surprised looks as Chandler was seen on his knees, three Pyrus Bakugan on the ground in front of him with Lincoln still standing strong on his feet, Reaper on his shoulder. "Its over Chandler." Lincoln said before turning around and walking away. "You're done."

"Hahahaha!" Reaper yelled in satisfaction over the victory. Reaper had defeated each and every one of Chandlers Bakugan on his own. Something the Darkus Bakugan just loved. "That was immensely satisfying seeing him and his Bakugan so easily crushed."

"Yeah, I guess seeing his face like that did cheer me up." Lincoln commented with a small laugh. After all the stress from the last few days has been weighing on him so this was a good release.

However, the feeling only last a little while. Lincoln sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his partner. This would have been a lot better if he had enjoyed it with his partner. Leonidas would have loved pounding Chandler into the ground. Plus, battling in general without Leonidas in general just didn't feel right.

He needed to find out what was wrong with Leonidas and fix this.

* * *

"Oh Lincoln, I'm so sorry to hear that." Alice said with sympathy as Lincoln finished explaining his story. Later into the day, all of the Battle Brawlers were together at Runo's family café. Thankfully today was a slow day so Runo and Alice were able to talk with the group without distraction. And of course along with the Brawlers were all their Bakugan standing on the table they were at, along with Reaper and the silent Leonidas with the rest of the group staying away from Lincoln.

"Uh, hehe, yeah, sorry to hear about that Lincoln old boy but…" Preyas said with a fearful tone as he looked at Reaper. "Does that one really have to be here? I kinda fear my life here…"

"Keeping annoying me like that, and you should." Reaper growled back at Preyas.

"Meep…" The Aquos Bakugan quickly backed up.

"Oh yeah that's just great." Runo sighed out, already annoyed and angry with Reaper. "Lincoln, what is it with you and getting all the jerk Bakugan?"

"Now, now, no need for that attitude Runo." Chrysopeon, as she usually does, was quick to play peach maker and try to make it so there wasn't any disharmony in the group. "Reaper said he would help us and that's whats important. And I say we need as much as we can get in our mission to find the Infinity Core."

"I must agree." Marucho said with a nod. "Plus, previously being with Masquerade Reaper could potentially provide us with some inside info on Masquerade bases of operation."

"I just don't get why he has to literally stay_ inside_ the house." Lori said with a groan as she was aware of how Reaper would be crashing with them until this whole thing with Masquerade was over and he could get his revenge on Masquerade. "Can't he just stay with Charles in the dog house or something?"

"Don't even think about it!" Reaper quickly yelled to Lori.

"Well this is certainly going to be an interesting development." Tigrerra commented as she turned towards Drago. "I admit I have my doubts but Chrysopeon is right. We'll need as much help as we can get."

"Hpmh, well I'm still keeping an eye on him." Drago said as he kept his eyes locked onto Reaper. He may have been betrayed by Masquerade, but Reaper still betrayed the entire Bakugan race and sent who knows how many Bakugan to the Doom Dimension. No way was he gonna lower his guard around this Bakugan or trust him, even for a second.

"Can we get back to the main point here." Lincoln with as a tick mark appeared on his forehead. Lincoln gave his partner a worried look as he said. "Something seriously wrong with Leonidas."

"Oh I'm sure its nothing to bad." Preyas said as he walked towards Leonidas. "I'm sure all he needs is some cheering up from his best friend."

"This can not end well at all." Drago said as everyone simply decided to watch the scene.

"Hey there Leonidas old buddy old pal!" Preyas greeted in usual goofy tone while standing in front of Leonidas who continued to stay closed up. "Come on and open up! Your good friend Aquos Preyas is here!"

"…"

"Come on~" Preyas lightly nudged Leonidas. "Just open up and give me a good yelling. That always cheers you up!"

"…"

"Leonidas?" Now Preyas was starting to get a bit worried as Leonidas hasn't reacted to a thing he had said. "C-Come on, just a little yell?"

"…"

"Come on!" Preyas yelled in a desperate attempt to get Leonidas to open up and talk. "Yell at me! Insult me! Threaten to squish me! Anything!"

"…"

"Oh this is just horrible!" Preyas yelled out dramatically. "It feels like I've lost a brother."

"You're not helping Preyas!" Drago yelled in an annoyed tone.

"Well least I'm _trying_!" Preyas yelled back at Drago. "Don't see you doing anything to help out!"

"Tch, how pathetic." Reaper clicked his tongue. "All this because he lost against Hydranoid."

Everyone froze.

All the brawlers and Bakugan turned towards Reaper with Lincoln slowly asking. "What…was that?" Lincoln needed to make sure he heard Reaper correctly.

"What? Isn't it obvious?" Reaper said as he looked towards Leonidas. "That welp's pride took a blow when he lost to Hydranoid. Its just sad how he's taking it."

"So wait a minute…" Runo began before it finally hit her what exactly was going on. "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME LEONIDAS IS ACTING LIKE THIS ALL BECAUSE HE LOST A BATTLE!?"

"Wow…" Reaper began as he looked up at Runo. "You are slow."

While Runo's temper flared up, Lincoln kept his eyes focused on his partner. So that's what was happening. Leonidas was taking the loss against Hydranoid pretty well. "I suppose it does make sense." Alice spoke up as she looked down at Lincoln's partner. "Leonidas is a rather proud Bakugan."

"And this is literally the first time he's lost." Lori pointed out while looking at her younger brother and his partner. "Before this Leonidas was able to take down pretty much every Bakugan with no problem. So he isn't used to losing…"

"Its pathetic." Reaper said while looking at Leonidas. "When I lose, I don't just hide away from the world. I use it fuel my drive to winning the next battle!"

"Hmmmm…" While everyone both human and Bakugan were discussing the subject, Lincoln hummed as he looked down at his partner. Lincoln was honestly feeling pretty dumb right now for not seeing it sooner himself. It all made sense now. Leonidas was an extremely prideful Bakugan that took his own skill and power in high regards. And this was his first lost. He was taking it hard.

But still…

"Hey! What are you doing?" Reaper was taken by surprise as suddenly Lincoln took both him and Leonidas into his hands. Lincoln then surprised the rest of the group as he stepped out of the booth.

"Hey, where you punks headin off to?" Preyas asked Lincoln with a jersey accent.

"Gotta head home." Lincoln said as he started leaving Runo's café. "Got something I need to take care of."

"Oh, well I'll drive you then." Lori said as she was about to get up only for Lincoln to gesture for her to stop.

"Nah, its cool." Lincoln told his oldest sister as he opened the door. "I think a walk in the sun will do us good. Plus I gotta do this on my own.

"Well, see ya later I guess." Runo said with a bit of a confused tone. While she was wondering why Lincoln would suddenly leave outta the blue like that, she wasn't gonna question him about.

And with that, Lincoln left.

* * *

"Alright Leonidas, we need to talk." A bit later, Lincoln was now seen in his room with Leonidas in front of him on the drawer. Reaper had fallen asleep during the walk home so luckily; he wouldn't be in the way for this. "Look, you're upset about your loss, I get that. But its not a big deal, really."

"…"

"I don't think any less of you for it. I'm honestly happy you weren't pulled into the Doom Dimension. I don't get how you did it, but I'm just happy. And it's not like you lost because you were to weak or not good enough. You willingly took that hit for Drago and probably knew what would happen. If anything, that should make people respect you even more for being willing to sacrifice yourself like that. It took a lot of guts."

"…"

"You…You're not a loser Leonidas. Far from it. If I'm…If I'm being honestly hear…I'm more of the loser then you are. I'm surprised you stuck around me for this long. Before I met you…before the Bakugan cards fell I felt like a bit of a loser a lot of the time."

"…"

"I guess its just…all of my sisters have something great about them that makes em stand out. Lori has her golf, Leni has fashion, Luna and her music, Luan's a comedian, Lynn's sports, Lucy has her poetry, Lana has her animals and her plumbing and mechanical know-how, Lola and her pageants, Lisa's super smart, even Lily has trophies for all the stuff she does. And me…I'm just…the boy in the family. That's pretty much all I'm known more. Kinda all I'm still known for even now…"

"…"

"Heh, look at me. Kinda being selfish her. I was trying to cheer you up and here I go talking about my own stupid problems. Look, the point is I'm really lucky to have you as a partner and friend. You deserve better. Don't know why you stuck around for so long when there are probably better Brawlers out there for you to team up."

"…"

Lincoln simply sighed as he stood up and rubbed his head. "I need some water." Lincoln said as he faced his door. "I'll be right-"

"You're not a loser kid…"

Lincoln froze before his head could touch the knob. Turning back, his eyes slowly widen as he saw Leonidas, no finally opened up, looking right at him. "…Hey…" Lincoln greeted with a small smile on his face.

"Hey…" Leonidas's greeted in a similar tone to Lincoln. "Hey…so…sorry about…ya know…"

"Its ok. Really." Lincoln reassured Leonidas as he sat back down on the bed. "I get it. Your first loss. It…was probably hard."

"I guess…I always thought of myself as the strongest." Leonidas explained to Lincoln with a lowered head. "So I guess getting taken down by Hydranoid…really stung…"

Lincoln sighed as he nodded his head. Honestly the lose did kinda get to him as well, even taking away the part where Leonidas could have been sent to the Doom Dimension, but Lincoln was the kinda guy to take his loses. Leonidas however didn't have any experience in doing that. But still…

"Ya know…maybe not being the strongest is a blessing in disguise." Lincoln said with a small smile on his face as Leonidas, if he could make expressions in ball form, gave Lincoln a confused look. "I mean imagine if you could just instantly defeat any opponent with ease and not even get a challenge."

"Huh…" Leonidas let out as he thought hard about what Lincoln said. "That sounds…really boring."

"Exactly!" Lincoln clapped with a smile on his face. "With someone strong out there, we now have something to work toward and train for."

"Hehe…yeah." Leonidas laughed before looking up at Lincoln again. "But look kid, no more of this doubting yourself nonsense ok? I may have not been around for most of your life, but I've known you long enough to know what your both strong and smart. And if _I'm _being honest here, I probably wouldn't have made it this far without ya."

"Wow…" Lincoln let out in response to the compliment from his partner. "Thanks man. That means a lot."

"Anytime kid. I guess it couldn't have been some sort of coincidence that I ended up in front of you." Leonidas explained as he recalled the day of how he and Lincoln first met. How Leonidas had ended up on the fountain at the park with Lincoln right in front of him. "Now that I'm thinking about it…I believe fate has brought us together."

"Fate?" Lincoln questioned with a few blinks. "You really think so?"

"I'm sure of it." Leonidas said with nothing but certainty in his voice. "So, there's no one I would rather have as a partner then you kid." Lincoln quickly felt himself getting misty eyed at his partners words as he started to wipe his tears away before they could fall. "Hey come on kid, no crying. Don't be getting soft on me."

"Hehe, sorry." Lincoln apologized as he picked up his partner and held the Darkus Bakugan in both of his hands and looked down on him. "We're gonna go far Leonidas."

"Damn right we are." Leonidas said as both human and Bakugan looked into each other eyes. Silently vowing to grow and get stronger together. After a moment, Leonidas sighed as he said something he brought up. "So…Reaper…"

"Yes, he's us and that's that." Lincoln quickly responded with the roll of his eyes. "So just deal with it ok?"

"Grr…fine." Leonidas silently growled. "But make sure he doesn't get in my way."

Lincoln sighed, but still couldn't help but smile.

At least this whole experience won't be boring.

* * *

"Oh that's great to hear!" Alice cheered with a smile on her face. The next day, the Brawlers and their Bakugan were all at Runo's café again and this time on a happier note as Lincoln and Leonidas and just told everyone how things were now all cool with Leonidas and how he and Lincoln were just gonna work harder to beat Hydranoid in a rematch one day.

"Its good to have you back Leonidas." Drago said as the Pyrus Bakugan walked in front of the Darkus on.

"Good to be back Drago." Leonidas responded before turning to Reaper and saying. "As for you, just make sure not to stand in my way when I'm crushing Hydranoid."

"I could say the same thing about you…" Reaper said as both Darkus Bakugan gave each other fierce and challenging looks.

Everyone simply sweat dropped as the two Bakugan glared at each other. This was certainly going to be…something with both Reaper and Leonidas on their team. But hey, life just has a funny way of working out. Just then, Preyas made the choice of walking up to Leonidas and asking. "So, you all back to normal buddy?"

"…" Leonidas then proceeded to push Preyas off the table.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The Aquos Bakugan yelled before hitting the floor.

Leonidas let out a satisfied sigh before saying. "Its good to be back."

"Yay…he's back…" Preyas groaned while twitching on the floor of the café. "Ow…"

* * *

**_Like I said, a nice chapter. Establishing Reaper into the team and getting Leonidas his groove back. Also, shout out to my best friend Petrus for helping me out with this chapter a bit. He brought up the point of Reaper not really trusting anyone after being betrayed by Masquerade, something I didn't even realize. So props to this guy for pointing out a pretty important detail. This chapter may have been a bit different if it weren't for that._**

**_Welp, not much to say. So I hope you all fav, follow, leave a review, and stay tuned for..._**

**_"The Story of Vestroia"_**


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